Chapter 19: Ch 19: The Cosmic Alliance

[Congratulations Gods! For completing their First day as a God!] [From now on, No faith will be generated for the death of any non-wise lifeform.] [Each God can create one Group for Chat.] "Well, one bad news, one okay news," a God typed in the God Chat after witnessing the new notifications provided by the System. "True," another God typed, peeking everyone's interest, "But I think this is issued to balance this game." Finding this brief moment of silence, he typed again, "Think about it: now, billions of bacteria and algae are born and die every hour or so, giving us huge amounts of Faith. But in the future, this speed will increase manyfold, which will provide us hundreds of thousands of Faith every second." Every God nodded in silent agreement after reading this insightful message. "Dear Fellow Gods, I was pondering about this multiverse of Gods for a long time and found out that each God alone is enough to sustain his world. But to handle misfortune and develop a world at the same time would be challenging," typed Strategist, his customary long-winded yet profound style apparent. "Thus, hereby I announce that I, God of Wisdom Strategist, am creating an alliance. Any God interested in this can message me for more information." The chat went silent for a moment as Gods throughout the multiverse understood the true meaning of the second notification by the System. 'Alliances.' This momentous announcement spurred many other Gods with good talents to also think about creating their own alliances. But the downside was clear: you needed to publicly showcase your talent, otherwise, who would join a nobody? Many Gods, however, still decided to play it safe, opting to simply type that 'I have an A-grade talent, and interested Gods can inquire about my talent via private message.' Sunny saw all this unfolding and also thought of creating an alliance. He was an exception when it came to showcasing talent, because his unique title, 'God of Manifestation,' was alone good enough to attract members from any nascent alliance. "I will think about it in the future, let's handle the elves first," Sunny said to himself, his gaze shifting towards Veridia. The Elves had evolved enough to be quite similar to humans, except for their dazzling appearance and naturally pointy ears. Even the previous, small gazelle-like horns of these elves were nowhere to be seen now, having fully receded with their evolution. Sunny, still in his God Space, began to meticulously check the talents of these elves. Aside from the previously observed agility, perception, and marksmanship talents, the elves now possessed many talents specifically related to magic. He checked his human tribe too and found them also beginning to manifest similar, albeit rarer, magic talents. Is my world evolving into a magic world? Sunny thought, pondering the implications of this natural mana absorption, recalling the mana veins or wells from the novels he used to read. He messaged the God who had asked him to replicate the Tear of Mermaid earlier. His God name was Zir. Cosmos: "I have an offer for you. I don't know if you would be interested." For Sunny, Zir was not the only option available; he had contacted Zir specifically because Zir had provided him with what he considered the most valuable item (the Tear of Mermaid) till now, offering a glimpse into magic-world mechanics. If Zir was not interested, Sunny could always ask other Gods from magic-infused worlds, excluding Kairos, of course. The reply from Zir came shortly, almost instantly. Zir: "Sure boss, I am interested." This immediate, eager reply stunned Sunny. He was utterly oblivious to the fact that, in the hearts of many Gods, he had already become a figure surpassing even Kairos and Strategist in terms of sheer perceived power and potential. Cosmos: "I want to know how mana is generated in your world." Zir: "Mana is generated through mana veins, boss." Cosmos: "Can you provide me with one?" Zir: "In my world, there is only one mana vein, boss." Sunny immediately understood Zir's concern. Zir was afraid of damaging the fundamental foundation of his entire world, which was its sole mana vein. Cosmos: "Do you know my title?" This simple, loaded message silenced Zir. In about 30 seconds, a trade request from Zir appeared on Sunny's interface. Sunny accepted the trade, and in his divine hand, a complex network akin to a human's neural network appeared. Though it was manifested perfectly in Sunny's hand, the actual size of this mana vein was enormous. If connected with a world, the thickness of each individual 'vein' would be more than a human's waist. The System notification showed the clear description of this newly acquired vein. [Item Name: Mana Vein] [Grade: A] [Description: The foundation for a magic world. Directly starts a cycle of mana generation in the world and provides a constant mana supply in a 100,000 km radius.] Sunny could roughly guess the price for manifesting this colossal mana vein. He noticed a clear pattern: the more inherent energy an artifact or item contained, the higher its production cost would be. That's why ordinary weapons like bows and arrows were relatively cheap to manifest, but items imbued with energy or specific magical properties, like the Tear of Mermaid, were somewhat costly. The cost of manifesting one A-grade Mana Vein was a substantial 1,000 Faith points. If Sunny were to upgrade the grade to SS, which was similar to the grade of his mask and the highest grade he could manifest with his current capabilities, the price would skyrocket to 10,000 Faith points. Sunny manifested one S-grade Mana Vein for his own world. Then, displaying his newfound generosity and cunning, he traded back the A-grade Mana Vein to Zir. He also gifted Zir an additional S-grade Mana Vein, a gesture that cost him 5,000 Faith points. Zir had helped Sunny immensely by providing his only mana vein blueprint, a profound show of trust in Sunny. So, Sunny was not stingy with this divine gift. He now had more than one lakh (100,000) Faith points, and he was not lacking in this crucial resource, at least for now. Zir was immediately overjoyed after looking at the completed transaction and thanked Sunny wholeheartedly, his gratitude radiating through the System. Sunny thought of something new and immediately created a group. The name of the group was 'Cosmic Alliance.' He directly invited Zir into his newly formed group. Zir joined the group and was immediately dumbfounded by looking at Sunny's first message within the alliance chat. Cosmos: "All the members of this alliance will get a 10% discount on every transaction." Though a 10% discount was not a significant financial loss for Sunny, for other Gods, it represented a huge potential saving on their vital transactions. For example, if Zir were to ask for five Mermaid's Tears again, it would not cost him 750 Faith points but only 675. This would save him 75 Faith points, which was a considerable amount for Zir, as he had previously spent all his accumulated Faith for the initial five Mermaid's Tears.