Chapter 40: Ch 40: Theia, The First System

"The problem lies in the connection," Sunny muttered to himself, pacing within his God space. He was exploring every conceivable solution to the System's impending demise. His mind first went to divine contracts, but he quickly dismissed the idea. Other gods would never agree; they would never reveal their location, their strength, or allow another to exert control over their will. He then considered creating billions of demigods—ants or other insignificant lifeforms—to act as links. But the cost was staggering: 6 billion gods multiplied by the 5,000 faith points required for each divine embryo. The total was astronomical, and the idea was quickly dropped. Then, a sudden moment of epiphany struck him. He immediately manifested a divine embryo, but this time, he did not give it a form. Instead, it coalesced into a new type of energy—a shimmering, light-blue essence that flowed and pulsed in the void before him. Sunny bestowed upon this new being four unique talents: * Omni-Cognition: A talent straight out of science fiction. This ability, costing Sunny a steep 300 million faith points, granted the demigod unparalleled computing power. It could multitask, run complex simulations, and learn any subject in an instant. * Replication: A talent that, as its name suggested, allowed the demigod to replicate itself. Sunny added a critical restriction: each replication would require a small amount of faith points. This lowered the cost to a manageable 30 million faith points—a price Shenlong could earn in just a few hours. * Link: This talent, which cost only 70,000 faith points, gave the energy the ability to create a divine link with any god. Crucially, Sunny was the sole administrator of this link. He was the only one who could use the Replication talent of the energy and allow it to link with others. Any new particles replicated would always be linked back to him. This prevented other gods from replicating the system for their own followers and ensured Sunny's monopoly. * Thought Sharing: This final talent gave every particle of the energy the ability to share thoughts with all others. The initial price was an astronomical 700 million faith points due to its ability to negate distance with minimal energy. Sunny placed a restriction on it as well: every single thought would require a small amount of faith to transmit. This simple restriction reduced the cost by a staggering 650 million, leaving the final price at 50 million faith points. Sunny surveyed his creation. The total cost of the new demigod was over 380 million faith points, but he knew its potential was limitless. He named this energy, Thea. With a subtle command, Thea's light-blue essence began to swirl and condense, materializing into the form of a woman. She had a mature figure and wore a secretary's uniform. Sunny was momentarily captivated by her ethereal beauty, but he quickly reined in his thoughts and let her awaken. Her body, though perfectly formed, appeared to be made of pure, flowing energy. Slowly, Thea opened her eyes, looked at Sunny, and bowed her head slightly. "Thank you, my Creator, for bestowing me with life," she said, her voice a gentle echo in the vast space. Sunny's heart fluttered at the reverence, but after more than 150 years of Veridia's history, he was no longer easily flustered. However, Thea's beauty was truly otherworldly. He was about to ask her how she chose her form, but she spoke first. "Master, do you like my form?" she asked. "I analyzed your facial features and the various races of Veridia to construct the most complete form possible for me." "It is good," Sunny replied, a smile tugging at his lips. He realized his life of passively earning faith points was about to resume. "I will now trade one of your energy particles to different gods across the multiverse. You need to link with them." He immediately added a crucial command: "And do not materialize in this form in front of others. Instead, present yourself to them like this." Sunny projected a thought directly into Thea's mind—a vision of a simple, digital interface. He used 50,000 particles to activate Thea's Replication ability, which, in turn, generated 6 billion more particles. He listed these on the trading platform, offering one particle per god. Then, in the original God Chat, he made his announcement: "God Cosmos: Dear Fellow Gods, I am excited to announce my new creation. Thea, a System that will replace the current one when it disappears. It has been placed on the trading platform for 1 faith point. You need to insert 1 faith point into it to activate it." The God Chat fell silent. Most of them knew Sunny's power and reputation. Those who were familiar with "God Cosmos" and his business acumen immediately started buying the energy particle. Almost instantly, over a million trades were completed. Sunny also instructed Thea to materialize a system panel for him. The panel was similar to the old system's interface, with options for God Chat and Trading Space, which were currently greyed out. Sunny commanded Thea to open the God Chat. The chat worked by having each particle act as a single point in a neural network. When a message was sent, it was instantly transmitted across all of Thea's particles, making the communication instantaneous. Sunny typed the first message into the new system: God Cosmos: "Hello users, you can write messages. However, sending a message costs a fee of 0.1 faith points. You can also pre-recharge funds into the system for future convenience." Sunny, however, knew a secret that the other gods did not. The actual cost to transmit a single message was a mere 0.05 faith points; the other 0.05 was going directly into his own pocket. The Gods who were using the new system were all the hardened survivors of the System's purge and the subsequent demon invasions, and as such, each of them had a substantial number of lifeforms under their command. For them, a 0.1 faith point fee for communication was negligible. Even if only half of the 6 billion gods—a mere 3 billion of them—sent a single message in the chat, Sunny would be pocketing a minimum of 150 million faith points. And of course, he knew they wouldn't send just one message. The profits from this simple transaction-based system would soon be in the billions every single day, securing Sunny's position as the true economic powerhouse in the new age of the multiverse.