With nothing else to do but wait, I decided to watch the god chat to pass the time, hoping something interesting would happen, whether on my planet or among the other gods. The endless stream of messages was a strange kind of background noise, a mixture of cries for help, boasts of power, complaints, and strange experiments gods were sharing about their worlds. Most of it was nonsense, a jumble of noise that faded into my thoughts after a while.
Hours passed in silence, my attention drifting between the words on the screen and the sphere that floated in front of me. Time had become strange in this void. It felt slower, almost dreamlike. Eventually, after thirteen hours of brain‑numbing reading, something on my planet caught my attention.
I leaned forward slightly, focusing in on the small volcanic spring I had created earlier. I concentrated until the volcanic water became a detailed world in my mind, every ripple and swirl visible to me. And then I saw it.
A tiny, slightly cloudy, almost bubble appeared before my eyes. But I knew better. These were not bubbles. No, these were protocells. On Earth, scientists considered protocells to be the first form of living life to ever exist. They were the simplest biological structures, little droplets of organized chemistry with the potential to grow and reproduce. Yet they were far from intelligent. They did not think, feel, or act with purpose. They simply existed.
As I watched, the protocell split into two, those two split into four, and then the cycle continued. The older cells began to die as the newer ones multiplied. It was a truly horrible cycle — birth and death occurring in endless rhythm. Protocells multiplied roughly every thirty minutes under ideal conditions but died after only a few hours. The life I was witnessing was raw, brutal, and beautiful in its simplicity.
I stayed focused, watching the initially small number of organisms grow larger and larger. The numbers began to rise exponentially. At first, their growth seemed chaotic, but then patterns began to form — the interplay of creation and destruction, life and death. As the deaths increased, I felt a strange sensation within me, unlike anything I had experienced before. It was a feeling that went against the emptiness of spending my divinity. This was not a cost but a gain.
Immediately, I opened my status screen to see what was happening.
[Name: Zane Mercer]
[Age: 20]
[Talent: System Creator (SS)]
[Divinity: 6.0000005]
[No. Organisms: 2349]
I stared at the numbers in disbelief. My divinity had increased. But how? The protocells were nowhere near intelligent enough to have a concept of faith. They did not even possess the ability to think. They simply existed, obeying chemical laws, dividing and dying without awareness. If it could not come from faith, then where was this divinity coming from? I spoke aloud without even thinking. "Where did this divinity come from?"
At that moment, a message appeared in front of my eyes. The blue glow of the system message cut through my thoughts.
[To help facilitate the growth of the gods, the death of the planet's occupants will provide divinity to the god until organisms with a suitable amount of intelligence are born.]
I blinked, staring at the message as it lingered in the air. My mind churned. Why had this not been explained to me earlier? Surely that was an important rule. But the thought slipped away quickly. Right now, what mattered was that I had discovered something significant. I now had a method to gain divinity, even if it was an extremely slow process.
Over the next ten hours, all I did was watch the god chat and look at my divinity go up. The chatter in the chat never ceased—messages piling on top of each other like a tide of noise. Some gods were boasting about progress, others complaining about slow starts, and a few asking for advice. Every so often, a spark of drama flared up, only to fade moments later into mundane chatter. I ignored most of it, letting it serve as background noise while my focus remained fixed elsewhere.
Occasionally, I would glance toward the volcanic spring, curiosity pulling me in. The water shimmered faintly under my gaze, and I would zoom in to see what mutations or changes had formed among the protocells. They moved, split, and died in that endless cycle, forming subtle differences over time. Yet nothing remarkable had appeared beyond what I had expected. Still, the quiet progress was satisfying.
Other than those occasional glances, I did nothing else. I allowed the hours to pass, letting the god chat fill the silence while my mind wandered over possibilities for the future. Perhaps this slow start was necessary, a moment for preparation before the real race began.
Just as the twenty-fourth hour approached, a small notification blinked into my awareness. My divinity count had crept upward steadily over the day, and now it had reached seven. My eyes flicked to the status tab.
The number of organisms on my planet had officially reached one million. It was a milestone I had predicted, but the sheer scale still struck me. Yet even that achievement faded in importance compared to the message that appeared in bold letters before me, pulling my attention away from my own world.
[Congratulations to all gods on surviving day one]
The words echoed in my mind for a moment. Surviving? I thought. We had only just begun.
[In order to further promote the growth of your planets, at the end of every day a ranking will be held on the development of each god's planet, and those within the top 1000 will receive rewards.]
The list began to scroll automatically, each name carrying significance for those who read it. The rankings had a weight to them, a promise of advantage.
[With that being said here are the rankings.]
[1. Fission]
[2. Nova]
[3. Aqua]
....
[382. Nexus]
The number beside my name was neither high nor impressive. Still, I could not deny a flicker of determination in my chest.
[Congratulations to those within the top ten. The rewards will now be distributed.]
The following list of rewards rolled through, each category more enticing than the last:
[For those ranked 1000th to 501st. Three divinity has been granted.]
[For those ranked 500th to 101st. Five divinity and a common blessing have been granted.]
[For those ranked 100th to 11th. Fifteen divinity and a common blessing have been granted.]
[For those ranked 10th to 4th. Thirty divinity and a common blessing has been granted.]
[For those ranked 3rd. An A, D ranked talent has been granted.]
[For those ranked 2nd. An A, C ranked talent has been granted.]
[For those ranked 1st. An A, A ranked talent has been granted.]
[Congratulations]
The words lingered in the air, leaving me with a quiet mix of frustration and motivation. My rank was far from where I wanted to be, but now I knew the stakes were higher than ever before.