The Red Veil pulsed crimson against the morning sky, its monitoring arrays working overtime to catalog my activities. Good. Time to give them something that would make their cosmic bureaucrats choke on their morning coffee.
Standing in the courtyard at dawn, watching merchant caravans queue up for rooms that wouldn't be available until next week. Business was booming so hard it was probably giving cosmic accountants ulcers.
{Administrative Status: Priority Escalation Active}
{Monitoring Level: Maximum Surveillance}
The Red Veil's sensors were practically humming with activity, cataloging every anomalous transaction.
You know what? Time to give them something worth cataloging.
"Henrietta," I called to my head of security, who was perched on her favorite watchtower. "Gather the flock. Time to make some noise."
Or get myself killed in a really spectacular way. Either outcome was going to be memorable.
I pulled up my interface with the confidence of a man who'd already debugged the universe once. This was either brilliant or catastrophically stupid.
Definitely both, and that's what made it fun.
[Item Create: Coin Bag x100 - Value: 1000 gold each]
The warning messages lit up my vision like angry Christmas lights:
[Warning: Currency generation exceeds regional GDP by 2000%]
[Warning: Economic stability threshold breached]
[Administrative Alert: PRIORITY ESCALATION DETECTED]
[Continue? Y/N]
My finger didn't hesitate this time. Point of no return? Hell, I'd crossed that the moment I decided their precious balanced world was boring.
"Y."
The bags materialized with these satisfying thuds, like the universe's cash register just went ka-ching. Each one stuffed with more gold than most villages saw in a decade. The merchants stopped mid-argument and started staring at my impromptu wealth redistribution program.
I grabbed a bag and casually tossed it to the nearest caravan master. "Free samples. Tell everyone you meet that the Kharis Inn pays traders in gold just for stopping by."
The man caught it, nearly dropped it, then opened it and went pale. "This... this is real gold."
"Real as their surveillance network." I grinned. "Take it. Tell your friends. Let them know the old rules don't apply here anymore."
[Experience Gained: +500 (Economic Disruption Initiated)]
[Administrator Level: 9 → 10]
[New Ability Unlocked: Regional Influence]
The merchants swarmed forward like I was giving away free beer at closing time. Word spread through the crowd with the speed of really good gossip—the strange innkeeper wasn't just offering protection, he was literally throwing money around.
That's when the delegation arrived.
Six riders approached from the north, banners marking them as representatives from the Sunset Villages collective. Their leader, a sun-weathered woman named Syndra, dismounted with the careful movements of someone trying not to look desperate.
Perfect timing. More witnesses for the cosmic shitstorm I was about to unleash. They weren't just here for partnership agreements; they were here to determine if I was a resource to exploit or a threat to contain. Time to show them I was neither.
"We need to discuss terms," she said, eyeing the gold distribution like a starving person eyeing a feast.
"What terms?" I hefted another coin bag, feeling its weight.
"Your operation here. The prosperity. Our villages want partnership agreements. Revenue sharing. Access to your... methods."
[Item Create: Coin Bag x50 - Value: 2000 gold each]
The new bags hit the sand with heavy thuds. Syndra's eyes went wide as dinner plates.
"My method," I said, voice steady as bedrock, "is not needing anyone's permission to exist."
[Experience Gained: +750 (Regional Economic Destabilization)]
[Administrator Level: 10 → 11]
[Title Effect Activated: Enlightenment Catalyst - Divine Presence Manifest]
Something shifted in the air around me. Golden light began to shimmer across my skin, visible even in the harsh desert sunlight. The [Enlightenment Catalyst] effect kicked in, and I felt that familiar tingle of reality bending around me.
The merchants stopped talking. Started staring at me with expressions I'd seen in those old religious paintings. Henrietta and her flock spread their wings in perfect synchronization, creating a living mandala of enhanced poultry around my feet.
Wait, scratch that. Perfect synchronization sounds like I planned this whole thing. Truth is, the chickens just do their own thing and somehow it always looks impressive. I think they're smarter than they let on.
"By the Seven Sands," Syndra breathed. "You're not human."
I looked at her with genuine amusement. "Lady, I stopped being human the moment I figured out how to rewrite the source code of existence."
The crowd was growing. Villagers from Kharis mixing with merchants, delegation members, travelers who'd detoured just to witness whatever was happening here. They watched me with the kind of attention usually reserved for natural disasters and religious experiences.
Actually, both of those categories probably applied here.
[Experience Gained: +1200 (Mass Witness Event)]
[Administrator Level: 11 → 12]
[Divine Aspect: Minor Deity Recognition Achieved]
[New Title: "The Provider"]
Power flowed through me like electricity through copper wire. The [Omniscient System] hummed with new possibilities, new parameters I could adjust, new rules I could casually ignore.
"You came looking for partnership," I told the delegation, raising my hand. "Here's what I offer instead."
Fifty more coin bags materialized in neat piles around the courtyard.
"Take what you need. All of you. Tell your villages that abundance doesn't require bureaucratic approval. Tell them the old rules about scarcity and survival just got canceled."
The crowd surged forward like a dam had burst. Merchants, villagers, delegation members—everyone grabbed for the gold with desperate enthusiasm. In seconds, a century's worth of regional wealth was getting handed out like party favors.
[Experience Gained: +2000 (Economic System Collapse Initiated)]
[Administrator Level: 12 → 13]
[Warning! Regional monitoring station overload detected!]
[Warning! Administrative response protocols engaging!]
On the horizon, the Red Veil began to strobe. Crimson light pulsing in rapid patterns—emergency signals broadcasting to whatever cosmic powers monitored this reality.
Perfect. I'd forced their hand.
"What are you?" Mira asked, clutching gold against her chest like armor.
I looked around at the crowd staring at me with religious awe, at Henrietta's tactical formation of enhanced chickens, at the impossible wealth scattered across desert sand.
"What do you think?" I asked back, because honestly, I was curious what they'd come up with.
On cue, all twelve chickens launched themselves into the air, wings catching the desert light. Feathers scattered like golden snow, each one glowing with inner radiance as they drifted down around the crowd.
Actually, that's not quite right. Henrietta went up first, then three others followed, then the rest kind of... well, they tried to be dramatic about it but chickens aren't exactly built for synchronized aerial displays. Still looked pretty impressive from ground level, though.
[Weather Control: Sunshine Intensity +300%]
[Divine Aura: Enhanced by Environmental Control]
The harsh desert sun suddenly felt warm instead of punishing, casting everything in honeyed light that made my skin shimmer like burnished metal. The [Enlightenment Catalyst] effect amplified, turning the entire scene into something that belonged in a religious fresco.
The crowd dropped to their knees.
"CHICKEN GOD!" they shouted in unison, voices echoing across the desert.
"CHICKEN GOD! CHICKEN GOD!"
The chant spread through the gathered masses like wildfire. Merchants and villagers and delegation members all crying out the same words with religious fervor.
I couldn't help it. I started laughing. Because seriously? Chicken God? That was what they came up with? I mean, I had been expecting something more... I don't know, majestic? But no. Chicken God it was.
Could've been worse, I guess.
[Experience Gained: +5000 (Mass Religious Awakening)]
[Administrator Level: 13 → 15]
[New Ability Unlocked: Divine Command Authority]
[New Ability Unlocked: Reality Anchor - Increased resistance to administrative deletion]
{Status Change: Priority Target - Divine Intervention Protocols Activated}
{Alert: Constellation Response Team Deployment Authorized}
{Classification: Reality Breach - Extreme Threat Level}
{Response Timeline: Immediate Administrative Action Required}
The monitoring systems were going haywire, trying to process what I'd just accomplished. Pattern recognition algorithms weren't designed to handle spontaneous deity manifestation in their quarterly reports.
The accelerated progression made sense. I wasn't just exploiting individual system functions anymore—I was rewriting fundamental assumptions about how prosperity, security, and divine authority were supposed to work in this reality.
Each level pushed me higher, with the system unlocking access faster than it could keep up. I advanced from anomaly administrator to regional authority, then to economic disruptor, and finally to minor deity.
Eventually, they'd run out of categories and have to create new ones. That's when things would get really interesting.
The cosmic cavalry was finally coming. But they'd have to figure out how to categorize me first.
I looked around at the crowd chanting my ridiculous title, at Henrietta's perfectly coordinated flock, though one bird was still struggling to figure out how to land properly, and at the impossible wealth scattered across the desert sand like some fever dream of prosperity.
The Red Veil strobed faster, painting the desert in angry crimson pulses. Whatever was coming for me now wasn't going to be subtle. No quiet deletion in the night. This was going to be dramatic, violent, and very public.
Good. I'd always believed in making an impression.
For the first time since arriving in this reality, I felt ready for whatever they wanted to throw at me. Let them come with their cosmic justice and their precious balance.
I had chickens. I had gold. I had an entire crowd of people who thought I was divine.
What could go wrong?
If you're going to go out, might as well do it with style.
{
Name: Brand
Level: 8
Job: Administrator Lv. 15
Status: Minor Deity — Chicken God
HP: 1,700/1,700
MP: 2,000/2,000
AP: 40/40
STR: 94 (29 + 65)
AGI: 114 (29 + 85)
INT: 104 (39 + 65)
Title: Ascension Catalyst (+10 All Stats)
—You Look Divine
Title: The Idiot Who Ascended a Chicken (+20 Agi)
—Permanent Affection from Chickens
Title: Cosmic Threat (+5 All Stats)
—You Look Intimidating
Title: The Provider (+500 HP and MP)
—Your Supporter Gather Wealth Easier
Title: Chicken God (+50 All Stats)
—Chicken Associated With You Have Double Stats
Equipment: Sylph Sword
}