Kick the Sphere (Patreon)

Kick the Sphere

Chapter 35

-VB-

It’s been a while since I bought any knew knowledge from the Celestial Forge, so I found myself perusing its catalog rather leisurely after having completed what I considered to be my share of the today’s work.

And after having to dissuade the fifth town that I was not a god, I needed something to keep my mind off of my current developing situation that felt more and more like I was losing control over.

Because, if I was going to be brutally honest, short of going out there and brainwashing people to the max, I don’t think I was going to lose the allegation of being some kind of deity as much as it irked me. Whatever I did I was going to only increase the number of followers and worshipers.

So I locked myself away, doing the bare minimum of work I needed to do, and eventually found myself here, browsing the catalog. 

And there was a good reason for me to browse the catalog. 

I had more than a thousand points stored up.

Specifically speaking, I had 1,400 points stored up.

That was a lot of points to spend… but the problem was that I didn’t know how to spend it. 

I mean… just look at my current position right now! 

With the Red Fleet and the Swarm each taking on a separate Successor State, Dansur was not only safe but not even the center of attention. The Red Fleet was gorging itself on all of the metals on strategically important worlds of the Free Worlds League, and thus irrecoverably crippling them, and the Swarm was … it was eating its way through the Capellan Confederation. The peripheral half of Sian Commonality was more or less taken over, and I’m just happy that they kept to my instructions to not cause overly high casualty rates for the locals. 

If my external problems were getting thrashed by the Swarm and the Red Fleet, then my internal problems were being handled by all of my helpers, loyal followers, and … tempered zealots. 

There was no brewing rebellion on Dansur. All one needed to do was look up at the sky and see that it was pointless, because whatever rebellion they can bring about wouldn’t mean jackshit to spaceships capable of orbital bombardment. If that wasn’t enough, then entire planets in the star system have been converted for anyone with a telescope to see. And for the truly dumb motherfuckers who thought “Nah, I’d Win,” I still had a lot of mechs and soldiers. I also had the Factory, which loomed over everything else in its vicinity like a monolith. 

All of it together made for a rather oppressive environment for the locals who felt weak in my presence. 

It was also why so many of them were joining this or that cult started by my children and creations. 

It made them feel like they could derive a sense of purpose and protection by joining. Made them think that if they were part of “my side,” I wouldn’t crush them on a whim.

They weren’t wrong. Not entirely correct but also not entirely wrong. After all, I didn’t tell my children and creations to disband their little chunni-sounding cults, did I?

But what did that mean for me?

It meant that I had nothing to do and no desire to interact with the locals who only saw me as tyrant, god, or both.

Was there any reason why I wouldn’t be holing myself up? It wasn’t like I could visit neighboring star systems incognito, either! 

So I perused the catalog… and then I found myself running across something that was rather expensive. 

I looked at it, read its description, and thought about it. 

For 1,100 points, I would gain access to something … that would make me closer to what people believed of me than what I truly felt like. 

I could become a god-like being on a personal level, not because I had access to technologies or people who had godlike power in their current stage of development. 

That tickled my fancy a little. 

To become powerful personally.

I stared at the choice in front of me. 

To be or not to be. 

That was truly the question, wasn’t it? 

And if the question was to be a god or not to be a god…

…the choice was never a choice but rather how wise a person was. 

Because anyone who chose not to be a god was someone who could not think rationally. 

For only a god could be truly merciful for it was only a god who had power over everyone else. 

Whether I exercised that “mercy” was up to me, but not having the power would mean I would be at someone else’s mercy. 

Like… what if my children ever grew tired of me? 

I wasn’t going to lay down and die. 

So a measure of becoming something more? 

I was going to take it. 

And so… I purchased Mantra Generation. 

Perk Gained:

Mantra Generation (1,100 CP)

A being with a soul(you do have a soul, right?)can generate Mantra by prayer or feeling emotion. This mantra can be utilized by devices powered by Mantra Technology, or the Demigods of Shinkoku Trastrium.