God System: Growing My Cult Across the Multiverse

"System… Let's just burn them all."

[Insufficient points.]

Although he already expected that, Zayne still felt his annoyance rise up again. "What do I not have insufficient points for then?"

The system started listing up all the options, but Zayne was no longer paying any attention to it. His eyes were scanning the parade, looking for anything he might use. It didn't take long before he came up with a plan.

"System. How much would it cost to topple the barrels in that side alley? Just the ones with oil. Topple them and make them roll so that they crash into the parade."

[Toppling the oil barrels without affecting the rest costs 113 points. Rolling them toward the parade costs 26 points.]

Zayne watched as his orders were realized. There was a bit of a disturbance caused by the crowd which became an obstacle in the path of the barrels, but in the end, most of the barrels managed to reach the parade, crashing onto the platforms pulled by the horses. As a result, the horses got startled, and the scene quickly got chaotic. 

What made matters worse was that one of the affected platforms carried fire dancers… With the horses going wild, the platform underneath their feet became unsteady, and a few of them tripped, setting the stage on fire.

"Alright, now use 1,000… No, 10,000 points to help spread the fire as much as possible!"

According to his wishes, the points were spent, and the fire flared up with an unnatural intensity, quickly spreading to the other platforms. 

In just a short moment, the previously happy parade transformed into a scene out of horror. The people were running and screaming, trampling on others as they tried to escape. Those who were unlucky enough to be in the first rows, or simply tripped and fell, have all suffered a terrifying fate, burned alive as they cried for help in vain.

Now that was much better. Zayne could immediately feel his mood lighten up. Just a tiny bit - one ruined parade and a few deaths were nowhere enough to get rid of all of his pent-up frustration - but it was at least something. And he achieved it without spending too many coins!

Perhaps that could help him last for another decade or two? Although the time between his outbursts had been rapidly shortening…

Not that Zayne bothered to think about that. He was too busy watching people burn.

At a moment like that, a theophany would be nice. If he could appear in front of all those people, it could serve as a warning and spread his name. Giving a vision to such a huge crowd would be too expensive though. Even only voice manifestation would cost too much. There was no way he would be able to afford it. 

Perhaps he could do it if he went one by one… But that was so tedious and lame, it would take ages, and wouldn't have such a powerful effect. On any other day, Zayne might still be willing to do it. Right now, however, for the first time in centuries, he was not in the mood.

His patience was finally exhausted. He'd probably quit it all if he could, but…

"Hmm? What is that?" 

All of a sudden, Zayne caught sight of a long system window on the side. He was so absorbed in trying to ruin the parade that he hadn't really noticed it, but the system listed all the things he could currently afford, just as he offhandedly asked.

He had to admit that the list was long. As he scrolled through it, it seemed to go on endlessly. Despite his constant complaints about lacking points, there was a lot he could afford…

As if.

The list only seemed impressive, but in fact, most of the options there… were trash, to put it lightly. A complete waste of points.

Take the common cold for example. The cost of helping a person recover depended on many factors, such as the type of virus that caused it or the symptoms the patient experienced, but in most cases, it was reasonably priced. Zayne could easily help them out without it creating much of a dent in his account. 

The problem, however, was that recovering from a common cold wasn't anything particularly miraculous. Most of the people wouldn't attribute it to the god's grace. Only the most fervent believers might, and offer their prayers out of gratitude… But even then Zayne would suffer a loss, as the income from such prayers was worth less than curing the illness!

Then there were things like manifestations. Standard options included speaking or showing a vision. Those were actually useful in spreading the faith, especially in the early days, when Zayne had hardly any followers. 

Whether it worked or not was kind of a lottery though, and it frequently required Zayne to spend more points than it was originally stated to make full use of it. So, over the years, he slowly started using this option less and less, until at one point, he completely stopped.

Zayne scanned the list as he continued to scroll down, browsing through it without much care.

"Descent, huh?" he muttered, as he reached yet another category of 'things to waste your points on,' as he referred to it.

[Initiating: Descent]

[Pick your descent place.]

"Huh? Wait, no, I didn't…"

[Preparing for descent in: default]

"Wait, ABORT."

It was already too late though. The buffer circle stopped spinning, and everything around Zayne disappeared, from the system messages to the view of the world, as the space contracted, pulling him in.

"Ah… Whatever."

Although he didn't intend to descend, he almost instantly accepted the situation. There was nothing he could do now anyway.

In fact, rather than annoyed, he felt a hint of amusement. 

It was quite nostalgic, in a way. It had been ages since the last time he slipped up like that and caused the system to initiate something he didn't intend… 

He could almost feel as if he was a young, newbie deity, fascinated by the unfamiliar world and the unexpected, 'powerful' position that he received, full of hopes and dreams about advancing in the Pantheon and rising to the top…

Yeah, he was sure there must have been a time like that.

Probably.

All of it lasted only a fraction of a second. In a blink, Zayne could open his eyes again - this time truly open, in the most literal, physical sense, parting his eyelids by moving the muscles around the eyes, to allow the light to pour in and hit the retina, which led to the creation of the image in his brain.

To see like a human. Something Zayne hasn't done in centuries.