The System

I guessed I was just surprised for maybe a few seconds at the virtual interface that appeared before my eyes. I think it was probably due to so many novels, animes and mangas on the topics of isekai and reincarnations into another world with an OP cheat system that I was jaded to it. It looked like some generic game status page with tabs for different pages. One of the tabs with a message icon was blinking and I sort of mental and physically tapped it with my finger.

"If you are reading this, this meant that you have managed to activate the boon I left for you," Read the message from Aster the Goddess of Love and Wisdom. "I have used memories from your soul to construct a guide that would be easy and intuitive for you to use. This guide will help you on the path of Godhood."

"Okay... Very much standard isekai stuff," I mumbled to myself. "I wonder if the Gods have an SOP for this kind of stuff..."

Anyway, I returned to reading the message. "Remember to found your own Faith and gather as many followers as possible, as Faith is the only way to increase your divine powers. And last, of all, find a temple of Aster, and we shall speak once again when you offer some of your faith to the altar. I wish you the best on your journey!"

"Hmmm..." I frowned as I closed the short message and turned my attention to the floating UI. Under stats, I could see my own details as shown.

Divine Age : 0

World : Thear

Name : Neo

Rank : Lesser Immortal

Strength : 12 (+10)

Perception : 13 (+10)

Endurance : 1 (Disabled)

Charisma : 13 (+10)

Intelligence : 14 (+10)

Agility : 12 (+10)

Luck : 11 (+10)

Powers :

Immortality: +10 to all stats. Gain Accelerated Regeneration. Endurance is disabled. Unaging through the aeons, one does not require sustenance nor breathing. Diseases and poisons no longer apply and affect you. Eternal death is only granted upon the destruction of the Divine Spark located in the head.

I frowned as I looked at my stats and realised that the stats systems appeared to be similar to the SPECIAL system from the Fallout series. While unimaginative, it at least allowed me to understand some of the rules of this world. According to my understanding of the SPECIAL system, an average level character base stats would be around 4 points.

A helpful popout when looking at the word Strength showed me that it affects physical abilities like carrying and melee. Perception involves looking and spotting hidden things and I am not sure if it affects aiming and accuracy or not.

Endurance which was disabled, affects health, healing, resistance to diseases and poisons, holding your breath and general fitness and stamina. Charisma was more to how good looking I am, which I think with the +10, I do look better. It indirectly affects how others see me. Kinda like getting a favourable speech bonus and less penalty if I fail my charisma checks.

Intelligence felt strange to me as it was different from what I expected. Instead of gaining IQ, it allowed one to be enlightened easier, understanding hard stuff and do all the magic stuff. Agility, on the other hand, affects overall speed and precision work. It made one faster and turned can a person into a yoga master with hands skilled enough to do brain surgery.

And finally, my favourite stats of all, Luck! It made one lucky or unlucky in life. That stat determined if that single step you made dodged the dive bombing pigeons' shit or have it landed directly on your head.

"Okay..." I sighed to myself after I looked over my stats. "Even with the plus 10 from Immortality... My stats are actually pretty lousy... Especially my luck... Is that why I kept getting sick and now this shit?"

I checked through the other tabs which were all locked excepted for one which had a heading called, Faith.

Faith Points : 4

Total Number of Followers : 4

World -

Earth (0)

Thear (4)

"Four followers?" I scratched my head as I looked towards the sleeping bears. There were four of them, does this mean that they decided to follow me? Did beating them up made them my followers? Or was it that BBQ fish? Hmmm...

Anyway, there was also a little button at the side that says 'Absorb Faith Points' and another that says 'Evolve Divine Powers'. I clicked on the 'Absorb Faith Points' mentally and it asked me to input the number of points which I only had 4.

I skipped that step since I have no idea what it does now, and turned to the 'Evolve Divine Powers'. Clicking on it seem to hang the floating UI. What was this shit running on? Finally, the UI jumped and a massive interface showing hundreds and hundreds of rectangles that looked like a flow chart appeared.

"Holy shit!" I cried out in surprise. The flow chart turned out to be something like a technology tree! As I zoomed out mentally, I got dizzy, as thousands and thousands of options appeared. No wonder even the damn system hanged for a moment when it tried to load all the tech tree options. Finally, I stopped zooming out and zoomed in instead and looked around and found a language tech tree.

The cheapest option of <Thear Language - Basic Communications> that allowed one to understand basic words and sounds cost at least 200 faith points! <Thear Language - Common Tongue> required another 200 points but strangely enough <Thear Language - Animal Speech> only cost 100 points.

Thinking about the sad 4 points of Faith I have gathered, I gave up on evolving any divine powers. Instead, I went back to the cave and laid down next to the dying fire and organized my thoughts. First, I was sent here to help Goddess Aster to regain power in this world. Second, faith was needed for Gods and it comes from followers who worship you. Third, it appeared that animals can follow and worship you.

Fourth, from my own understanding, for the Goddess Aster to regain her power, she would need faith. Does this mean I have to give up my faith points to her?

Fifth, there does not seem to be a time limit, which I do not know if is good or bad. Sixth, does other gods or Immortals know of my presence? If so, what and how will they deal with me? Seventh, I need to find a temple of Aster so I can ask these questions. Eighth, to improve myself, I would need more followers and faith. But how do I get more followers?

Ninth, should I just ignore the Goddess Aster and just chillax my newfound life away? Will there be a penalty? I pondered on these questions through the night and unknowingly fell asleep.

I jolted awake and nearly jump right into the ceiling before I recognized the cave surroundings. The bears gave me a weird glance before they returned to their grooming and usual business. I rubbed my eyes and headed to the waterfall to wash my face. Under the reflection of the pristine waters, I admired my looks that were boasted by a +10 to Charisma.

After satisfying my vanity, I found the bears had wandered to the river and was starting to catch breakfast. I watched them swiped the water with practised ease, each swipe knocking a large fish out and soon a small pile of flapping river fish were on the river banks. To my surprise, the bears carried each fish and dropped them at my feet and gave me puppy eye looks.

I scratched my head and asked, "You want me to cook these?"

Unsure if they understood my words or not, they pushed the pile of fishes closer to me, urging me to take them. I let out a bark of laughter, thinking of the ludicrous of the entire thing before I went around to gather sticks and twigs. The smallest of the bears followed me around while the rest seemed to be doing some kind of bear celebratory dance.

This time, my fire setting skills improved slightly and smoke brewed out from the stack of wood. Luckily, I had no need to breathe, allowing me to constantly blow at the embers until a small roaring fire covered the sticks. I pierced the fish with sticks and stacked them around the fire, constantly turning them to prevent them from getting burnt.

Once done, I handed the bbq fish over to waiting bears who accepted the food gravely. Suddenly, in the corner of my eye, a small flashing message appeared. <Congratuations for getting 4 points of Faith! >

"Hmmm..." I frowned as I nipped away at the cooked flesh of the fish. The bears are worshipping me after I gave them cooked fish. Does this mean if I fed animals in this forest I can gain a shitload of Faith points? "Should I test this theory out?"

After breaking fast, the bears shuffled off to do their own things while I was left alone. Deciding to test my theory, I picked a random direction and headed off, planning to scout the area around the waterfall. I know about a quarter day travel to the south, was the nest of hated giant spiders, but other than that, I have no idea of what else was around the waterfall cave.

I half jog across the foliage, my bare feet not feeling the pain of sharp stones or sticks. I found small animals like rabbits with horns poking out of their heads. There were even slimes like creatures and some deer like creatures that had really impressive antlers. I decided to circle around and scout the land around the waterfall after not finding anything else.

As I headed west of the waterfall cave, I finally came across something interesting. Hiding in the trees, I peeked at the small naked and dirty creature yapping away in joy at the horned rabbit it hunted. Wounds covered the small green grey creature but it did not deter it from making a small victory dance around the dead rabbit.

Its wounds were most likely inflicted by the horned rabbit, just showed how weak this creature was. I grinned to myself as I continued my stalker observations. "A goddamn goblin!"

"Now, are they friendly little buggers or goblin slayer goblins?" I asked myself as I continued to stalk the happy little fellow who had swung the dead rabbit by its ears over its back. The rabbit was almost a third its size. The goblin hummed some tune known only to its own as it waved a crude hammer axe weapon in its other hand.

I followed it deeper into the forest, unworried of getting my way lost back to the waterfall cave as I could feel a very very tiny connection to the bears in the back of my mind. I guess I am connected to all my followers once they started worshipping me.

The goblin soon came upon a small hill and at the side of the hill, was a cave with several shabby looking huts made out of straw and sticks outside. A fence of sorts circled the goblin village and the proud goblin waved like a hero as he entered the village. He was immediately swarmed by other goblins and some kind of cheering could be heard from where I was watching.

My perception stats ensured that I could see into the village clearly even when I am over two hundred meters away. I saw the goblin hunter carried the rabbit to a thick stone pillar in the middle of the village and offered it on a flat stone altar. It and the rest went down to their knees and bowed to the stone pillar which I started to notice was covered in carvings of some sort.

The stone pillar seemed to shake slightly and even glowed red for a moment before becoming still. The goblins cheered and the hunter carried off its kill and headed into the cave. I frowned as I felt an unfamiliar surge of energy which made my hair rise. Uncertain of what it was, but one thing I was certain.

"That must be a temple of some other gods or immortals!"