Chapter 141: Ch 141 : Monopoly Once again
"Fifteen trillion faith points," Sunny murmured in the quietness of his God space, a low whistle escaped his lips.
He ran the numbers again. Five trillion for the rewards to his demigods and heroes, and another ten trillion to pour the stolen lifeblood of mana back into a billion worlds. "This breakthrough costed me a fortune."
He leaned back on his throne, a thoughtful expression on his masked face. His income from the Cosmic Shop and the God Chat was immense, but the discount he had offered to the Pantheon as compensation was now slowing his earnings. He needed a new, massive revenue stream to fund his ever-growing ambitions.
"I didn’t realize a simple breakthrough would be so catastrophic," he mused. "Otherwise, I would have just used a portal and done it in Kairos’s abandoned world." He chuckled at the petty, vengeful thought, but then the joke sparked something else. A thought, sharp and brilliant as a shard of a shattered star, pierced his mind.
"Magic Affinity... Blessings..." he whispered, the two concepts beginning to connect in a way they never had before.
He knew the fundamental rule of his Blessing talent: it only worked down the ladder of power. A God could bless a demigod, and a demigod could bless a mortal.
It was a one-way street. For the longest time, Sunny had assumed that meant Gods themselves could not be blessed.
But the movie of the past, his journey through the age of Adam, had taught him something crucial. There was a hierarchy even among the Gods. The ancient, Void-born Gods like Adam and himself stood at the absolute pinnacle. Below them were the countless Gods of Laws and Faith.
If the Blessing talent worked on hierarchy, then he, a natural God born from the Void, stood at the very top of the pyramid. The implications of that simple fact were staggering. A grand, audacious, and ridiculously profitable plan began to form in his mind.
He needed a test subject.
"Zir," he said, his voice echoing through Thea’s network. A portal, shimmering with cosmic energy, tore open in his God space.
A moment later, Zir tumbled through with all the grace of an excited puppy chasing a ball. "Greetings, Big Boss!" he chirped, his eyes already darting around, trying to guess the reason for the summons. "Is it a new game? A gift? Or do you need me to go rough someone up for you in the God Chat?"
Sunny couldn’t help but laugh at his friend’s shameless enthusiasm. He knew Zir was only half-joking. But this was no game. This was an experiment that could change the very fabric of their universe.
"Zir, my friend, I am very happy with everything you’ve done," Sunny began, his tone warm and sincere. "You supported me from the start, you fought for my reputation, and you’ve helped maintain order in the Pantheon. You are a true brother."
Zir’s playful demeanor softened, a genuine warmth spreading across his face.
"So today," Sunny continued, a mysterious smile in his voice, "I want to give you something in return."
"A gift? For me?" Zir’s eyes widened, his shameless excitement returning in full force. "What is it? A new demigod? An SSS-Grade artifact? Don’t keep me in suspense, Boss, give it to me!"
Sunny simply shook his head and gestured for Zir to come closer. He placed a hand on Zir’s head, closed his eyes as if chanting a silent, sacred mantra, and unleashed his Divine Blessing talent, pouring a single, potent concept into his friend’s soul: Magic Affinity.
For Zir, the world dissolved. It wasn’t a physical touch; it was as if the universe had reached into his very being with a gentle but irresistible hand and rewritten a fundamental line of his code.
A tidal wave of pure, conceptual energy washed over him. When the sensation faded, he opened his eyes, and the world was... more. He could see the shimmering threads of mana that wove through the cosmos, the faint, glowing auras of distant planets, and the vibrant life energy pulsing from Veridia.
"What is this?" he gasped, his voice filled with awe. "Some kind of perception talent?"
"It worked," Sunny said, a note of pure triumph in his voice as he watched the hundred million faith points vanish from his reserves.
"What worked? You mean you weren’t sure?" Zir’s face turned pale, his eyes wide with a comical look of terror.
"No, no, I was just expressing my excitement that it worked so well," Sunny lied smoothly, trying to divert his friend’s attention. "So, what do you think?"
"I can see... everything," Zir whispered. "But I don’t feel anything else. What talent did you give me?" He already knew about the concept of blessings from Sunny’s explanation of Heaven and Hell, but he couldn’t guess what this was.
"It’s Magic Affinity," Sunny said, watching his friend’s reaction closely. "Now you can learn the techniques of your elves. You can truly walk the path of a mage."
Zir was dumbfounded. His mouth fell open, his mind completely unable to process the words. He, a God, who had never been born with the ability, could now learn magic? It was a miracle, a gift so profound it shattered his understanding of his own limitations.
"Close your mouth, you look stupid," Sunny chuckled. While Zir was rebooting his divine consciousness, Sunny was already scaling up his operation.
He used his Cloning ability, the faith cost a distant concern. First, the tenth clone for one hundred billion. Then, the eleventh for a staggering one trillion.
He then addressed one of his magic-practicing clones. His own S-Grade breakthrough had been a cosmic disaster; he couldn’t risk another. "Your work is changing," he commanded. The clone nodded.
The remaining two will still learn and try to breakthrough to the SS-Grade, but Sunny knew it will take time, until then he can figure something out.
Just then, Reflection and Nyx arrived through the portal.
"Zir," Sunny said, turning to his still-stunned friend. "Type this in the Pantheon Chat: any God who wishes to purchase the Magic Affinity talent can apply through their system. The price is one hundred and five million faith points. And they can pay after they receive the talent."
He then turned to his other two friends. And was about to give them the magic affinity too, but suddenly he heard a voice, "Boss, I don’t have that much faith," Nyx said, her voice timid, knowing that friendship and business were often two different things.
"What are you saying?" Sunny’s voice softened. "For you three, it’s a gift." He placed his hands on their heads, and in two more flashes of divine light, bestowed upon them the miracle of magic.