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.
Faith can be increased using prayers of wise race or death of any lifeforms according to their intelligence and strength.
-System, what is a wise race?- Sunny pressed, a new goal forming in his mind.
A wise race possesses the capacity for complex thought, self-awareness, and the ability to formulate abstract concepts such as belief, worship, and reverence. Their prayers, when directed towards a deity, generate significant faith.
Sunny nodded slowly. So, the tiny 0.0023124 Faith was likely from the sheer number of algae living and dying, a constant, low-level churn.
True, substantial Faith, the kind that would unlock major divine interventions, would come from sentient beings. That was the long game.
-Should I intervene to increase the evolution?- he pondered, gazing at the microscopic world of Veridia.
But then he saw his Faith points, still in that minuscule decimal, and sighed. -Let’s wait for few minutes to increase my faith points somewhat.- He needed a buffer.
Sunny again opened the God Chat to pass the time, hoping for more insight or simply entertainment.
Kairos: -Do you guys want to see something?-
-What are you boasting about this time Kairos?- ‘Skeptic’ shot back.
-I want to see what the bigshot is boasting,- added ‘Curious God’.
-+1-.-+12345.- A predictable flood of agreement followed.
-See this,- Kairos typed, attaching an image.
Sunny opened the image and felt a jolt of astonishment.
It was a clear depiction of Kairos’s lifeforms: not algae, not even simple multicellular organisms, but something far more complex.