It was like conducting an invisible orchestra of atoms and energy.
Divine Action: Primordial Spark Initiated. Cost: 5 Faith Points.
Current Faith: 5 -> Remaining Faith: 0
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then, a single, microscopic flicker of green light appeared deep within Veridia’s sunlit waters.
It was incredibly subtle, visible only to his divine sight, but it was there.
The first spark. Life. A single, self-replicating organism, the simplest form of algae, had begun its existence, not from a purchased packet, but from his direct, knowledgeable, and now Faith-depleted intervention.
A profound sense of accomplishment washed over him. He, Cosmos, had created life. It wasn’t grand, it wasn’t complex, but it was the beginning.
He checked his status again.
God Name: Cosmos
Planet Name: Veridia
LifeForms: 1
Talent: Skill-Resonance (SSS-Grade)
Faith: 0
-One,- he chuckled, a sense of quiet triumph filling him. It was a humble start, but a start nonetheless.
Now, the waiting game truly began, but this time, he understood the rules of the game far better.
His Faith was now at zero. He needed a way to generate more. Faith, he realized, was likely generated by the life forms on his planet, perhaps through their sheer existence, their evolution, or eventually, their worship.
More life, more Faith. It was a positive feedback loop, but a slow one, especially with only a single life form.
He spent the next few -hours- simply observing. He tried to nudge the single algae, to encourage faster multiplication, but found his remaining 0 Faith was insufficient for any meaningful direct intervention beyond the initial spark.
He needed to let nature take its course, for now.
-System, what is the time flow ratio of Veridia to my perception?-
Veridia Time Flow: 10000 hours (planetary) = 1 hour (god)
Sunny blinked. -So, 10,000 hours on Veridia pass for every hour I perceive,- he murmured, quickly calculating. -That means 100 planetary years for Skill-Resonance to activate is roughly 876,000 hours divided by 10,000 hours per hour, which is 87.6 hours of my perception.
That’s about 3.65 days.-
It was still a waiting game, but a far more manageable one than a literal century.
This was a crucial piece of information. He wouldn’t be waiting around for eons in his own time.
He could actively oversee Veridia’s evolution, even if it was a slow burn.
He focused on the single microscopic algae, watching it divide, then divide again.
Slowly, imperceptibly, the numbers began to climb.
-This is truly a healthy start,- Sunny said, a small smile gracing his lips.
His planet was water, clean and ready, with its hidden landmasses awaiting future revelation.
He had the most basic life, directly willed into existence. And he had a talent that, while dormant, promised ultimate power.
The race was on, and while he might be starting slow, Cosmos had a long game in mind.
The first seed had been planted. Now, he just had to wait for it to grow. And grow. And eventually, evolve.
Chapter 3: Ch 3 : The Weight of Eons
Chapter 3 - Ch 3 : The Weight of Eons
Sunny frowned, a subtle discord rippling through his cosmic awareness. Something felt off���the algae, though proliferating, weren’t evolving at the expected dizzying pace, not with a 10,000x time acceleration for his world.
He had envisioned rapid, explosive diversification, a biological kaleidoscope unfolding before his divine eyes. Instead, it was. leisurely.
-System, why isn’t time flowing at 10,000x speed?- he queried, a hint of impatience in his mental tone.
Time is flowing at 10,000x speed.
As a god, your consciousness synchronizes with the observed world. Your perception is also accelerated to match.
A slow, dawning comprehension spread across Sunny’s cosmic consciousness, chilling him with its implications.
-So that’s why my algae were not evolving 10,000 times faster,- he murmured, the realization settling like stardust.
-But slowly dividing, in what felt like real-time.- The System’s logic, once explained, was elegantly simple, yet profoundly disorienting.
To truly observe a world, to immerse oneself in its temporal flow, required a commensurate acceleration of one’s own perception.
His divine brain, a magnificent instrument, had simply synchronized with the accelerated reality he was witnessing.
He had been, in essence, living those millennia alongside his nascent ecosystems, experiencing their slow, deliberate march through evolution at their pace, not his own.
The sheer, unfathomable scale of time, compressed and then expanded, left a subtle ache in his awareness.
It was a peculiar burden of godhood: the ability to witness eons unfold in what felt like moments, only to discover those ‘moments’ were, to his own perception, just as long as the eons themselves.
The rapid division of the algae, though numerically astounding, had felt like watching a time-lapse film play at normal speed, each frame meticulously observed.
With a mental command, Sunny disengaged from direct observation, pulling back his consciousness.
The shimmering, accelerated view of his burgeoning world receded, replaced by the familiar, stable interface of the God Cosmos, and the more conventional flow of his own existence.
A deep sigh escaped him, though as a being of pure consciousness, it was more a mental exhalation.
He opened the God Chat, seeking a distraction and perhaps some commiseration.
The chaotic stream of messages was a familiar sight, but their content had shifted from initial bewilderment to a mix of despair and cautious optimism.
-I am dying here. I used up all my faith to form an algae. But it died.- The message was from a user named ‘Despair’. Sunny felt a pang of sympathy; a similar fate could have befallen him.
-Upstairs I have only 10 algae for now I will trade with you once I have more.- Another message from ‘Hopeful God’.
-He doesn’t have faith points. What can he even trade with?- ‘Pragmatist’ chimed in, highlighting the grim reality of a bankrupt God.
-God of no lifeforms haha,- mocked ‘Joker’, perhaps a tad too gleefully.
-You can wait for the lifeform to develop themselves. It will be slow but with 10,000x time it is possible,- offered ‘Strategist’, referencing the standard time acceleration, oblivious to Sunny’s recent, disorienting revelation about perceived time.
Sunny was joyful that his algae hadn’t died; otherwise, he would have been utterly broken.
The thought of losing his entire starting investment made him wince.
Just as he was scrolling through the chat, a powerful, invigorating sensation surged through him.
It was subtle at first, then intensified, a warm, flowing energy. He refocused on Veridia.
Thousands upon thousands of his algae were no longer just passively floating; some were actively moving, engulfing weaker, less efficient kin.
It was an invisible war of the microscopic, a brutal, elegant dance of natural selection playing out in the vast oceanic canvas.
He knew what this new sensation was. -Faith!- Sunny exclaimed, his mental voice reverberating with newfound vigor.
-Status!-
A fresh panel materialized, updated with astonishing numbers.
God name: Cosmos
Planet: Veridia
Lifeforms: 15,334,566
Talent: Skill-Resonance (SSS-grade)
Faith points: 0.0023124
Sunny blinked, then reread the -Lifeforms- count. -15 million?!- he murmured, a genuine surprise.
The slow perception was deceptive; his world had been teeming with life while he mused in the chat.
The initial trickle of Faith, though small, was a testament to this burgeoning population.
-System, how does my faith increase?- he immediately asked. The decimal points suggested a continuous, subtle generation, but he needed clarity.