Chapter 1: Religion System

"In Jesus' name we pray, Amen" I said for the last time ever.

I am- or was a lukewarm Christian, someone who was only a Christian because of my surroundings as a child. My family and I went to church every Sunday without fail, and even on weekdays occasionally.

I was baptized before I knew what the word even meant, forced into Christianity by my parents. I have nothing against Jesus or anything, but those Sundays were long.

To be honest, I love Jesus more than anything in the world, yet I don't believe he was truly what he said he was. If he was, I'd want to be just like him.

And I got that chance.

Because I died, on a good ass Friday too.

And rose up again, with no wounds in sight. Damn, maybe me and him are twins.

Unlike him I didn't die on a cross and get laughed at though, I died on the wet cement road. Ran over by a truck.

Also unlike him , I didn't wake up on Earth.

Well, I didn't wake up on anything really.

I woke up staring down at a planet green like Earth, yet shaped nothing like it. I was in space.

Because I was in space, nothing should have stood before me and this planet, not even air.

Yet there was.

A blue translucent screen breached the gap between me and the planet. "Congratulations You are now one of my Host!" It read.

I looked at the screen, bewildered at the sight of something I'd never seen before.

"I'm The Religion System! Here to accompany you through the creation and management of a Religion!

"Please choose a Religion Type:

"

I was fucking clueless at the time. But I knew the difference between polytheistic and monotheistic faiths. Monotheistic faiths have only one god and Polytheistic faiths have more than one.

After about a minute of being a fucking genius and recovering from the fact that I was reborn, I asked a question," How does a polytheistic faith work here?"

Another window opened in front of me reading," Excellent Question! If you decide on a polytheistic faith than you and my other hosts who choose to do a polytheistic faith will form a religion together."

I already knew my answer, I wasn't gonna let some dumbasses control my religion and my power. But I continued to ask about it, just in case of some unknown benefits.

"What benefits come from polytheism then?"

The window changed, "Polytheism allows the power of your religion to be a sum of all the gods in it, so a polytheistic religion usually has more power than a monotheistic religion on the same level. To add on, polytheistic regions are able to have more reach, because they can usually utilize more resources."

After hearing that I began to get a little uncertain. I don't want to get controlled by others, but power is always nice. However, as an American (well, former American), Freedom and Independence was always the only option. So, exercising my first amendment I asked another question,"So what is the benefit of monotheism?"

The widow rearranged again," Monotheism allows absolute control over your religion, Infighting in your religion is lower than polytheistic religion. Monotheistic religions tend to have more loyal theists than polytheistic religions.

Absolute.

A word I love to hear.

After all, if you're supposed to be a god, you should be no more than absolute.

I want power, and it needs to be my own.

I selected with ease.

The first window changed," Good choice, now select your religions name."

This was an easy descision for me because as an author of a hit fantasy work, I had a religion that I made and I liked it a lot. It was called Eternumism.

"Eternumism." I said.

The first window changed again, "Good choice, one last question, would you like to open your religion now or wait for the next time (1,000 years)"

Before I had read the parentheses I was going to select the option, until I hastily selected when threatened with a 1,000 year timer. I had gamed previously, so long cooldowns were very distasteful to me.

"Transporting Host" The system said out loud for the first time.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

I was transported into the sky of this planet, to what I guess would be the western side? New sun and all that.

According to the system, the planet is called Terra.

In front of me was an another blue translucent text box, this time it read," Create a Prophet/Apostle?"

I eagerly clicked yes, recognizing this truly will start my religion.

"Create a name."

I wanted to go with a successfully build for my Prophet or Apostle, and the best template was Jesus.

"Cassius." It was the name of the son of Eternum, the god of Eternumism in my novel.

"Imagine his looks," read the system. I hastily imagined depictions of Jesus that resided in my former church.

Cassius had long fluid brown hair, brown middle eastern skin, and piercing blue eyes.

" has been created."

"HIDDEN MISSION COMPLETE

Rewards: 1,000 FP"

"Your reward has been granted."

The starter quest had completed easily. Faith Points (FP), as I would soon discover, are points utilized by gods to manipulate the world and gift things and powers to others.

"System, what is FP?" I asked.

A second window was materialized shortly," FP or Faith Points are points that can be spent on miracles/actions by God, or they can be spent to further the religion's position with the function. Would you like to browse the ?"

"Yes"

The blue screen shifted in size, displaying a list of items and powers.

"Sort: High to Low

Omnipresence: 100000000000000 FP

Omnipotence: 100000000000000 FP

Omniscience: 100000000000000 FP

Omnicompetence: 100000000000000 FP

…"

"System, please sort low to high." I sighed.

The window was once again replaced,"

Sort: Low to High

Song Domain (F): 300 FP

Illusion Domain (F): 300 FP

Athletics Domain (F): 300 FP

Dream Domain: (F): 300 FP

Fear Domain (F): 300 FP

…"

Looking at the shop, I knew what to do. I'm not just the author, I play video games, and I know how stack bonuses work.

"Can I purchase the Illusion and Dream domains?" I asked the system.

"Purchase confirmed."

"Can I see descriptions?"

The descriptions poped up quickly,"

Illusion Domain (F) (Normal) (0/1000)

The owner of this domain has the ability to change the perceptual senses of their target, with some faith points.

Dream Domain (F) (Normal) (0/1000)

The owner of this domain has the ability to manipulate dreams, with some faith points."

After reading, another question popped up, "System what is the meaning of normal rank?"

"The meaning of the Normal Rank is to show that other Religions can have the same domain as you. Unique Rank means that you are and will be the only Religion with the domain."

That's good news, I thought. It meant I could be the sole owner of one domain.

Then suddenly, a red window materialized infront of me," Alert! As the only monotheistic religion in this world you are given the ability to control your apostle! Do you accept?".

So much information at once startled me, but what startled me more was the idea that I was the only monotheistic religion in the world. From my knowledge of the world, I had thought there would be multiple monotheistic religions, but I guess in the end everyone wanted power and safety.

Cowards.

"Yes!" I said, ready to accept such a unique gift.

"Becoming Cassius."