A Gamer's Guide 422 (Patreon)

<Error!

No officiated churches

are assigned to the [Hope] domain.>

Oh, right, this was the roadblock I ran into last time I messed around with clergy and such. In that case, since I need a church to officiate clergy, I guess this whole thing will have to wait until some other date, I suppose.

<Notice:

Non-officated church available.>

…What, really? That’s surprising. Actually, no, maybe Leion set up something, or one of the shrines went overboard and became a house of worship, or…

<Please officiate

[Rafiloe Smith]

to continue.>

…Hah? What? No, seriously, what is this? What are you talking about? She’s going to become my apostle. That’s a different thing. That’s not—

{::w::}

<Definition requested:

Apostle.

An apostle is a sapient granted partial soulhood

through the consumption of a sufficient 2nd class relic from 

their patron god. [...]>

<Definition requested:

Church.

[...] A church is a house of worship containing a 

3rd or 2nd class relic belonging to 

its patron god. [...]>

<{::w::}/

…So, it’s… Wait, let me get this straight. An apostle is a church? By making her my apostle, Gecko is going to become a church? What? 

Simon gives me the tiniest little nod in return. 

Okay. Alright. So, in other words, if I properly officiate Gecko, then I can use her to make a priest, who can then make a proper church, out of stone or something, wherein the priest can then make other priests. 

Dang, that’s complicated. Why does everything have to be so complicated? 

…But I know I have to do it. It sucks, but unless there are clergy and churches and whatnot, then people will gradually diminish in devotion. And if they stop praying and worshipping me, then I won’t be getting this constant influx of divinity. Which would be bad, because I kind of need the divinity in order to make miracles and such.

Silently, I slip off the pillows, sinking down on top of the bed. I force a sigh out of me, even though I don’t need to breathe. 

This is so sucky-yucky. But… I only have to do it once. Fix it once, and then it’ll be enough. I only need to officiate a single priest. In that case…

I smile to myself. Yeah, I know who I’m going for. It isn’t even a question, honestly. 

I can only hope Lett wants to become my first priest, too. If he doesn’t, then… I’ll figure something out, I guess. I usually do. Either way, I’m sure Gecko would like to know all of this before we do anything, so I should probably send her a PM before…

Oh, no, wait, I can’t. Shoot. I keep forgetting about that.

…Unless…?

I sit back up again, adjusting the pillows back into position. Okay. Okay. Let’s see here. If the god of multitudes can send messages straight to their devotees, then surely so can I? It can’t be complicated. Just beam a message into their brain! Easy-peasy.

Alright. Let’s try it. Even if I mess up, this will be good practice for trying to make the projecting miracle. Let’s see here…

<Available miracle slots: 5/12

Lesser: 2/6

Middling: 1/4

Greater: 2/2>

<Do You wish to create new miracle?

cost: 

Lesser: §0,0005.

Middling: §0,005

Greater: §0,05>

So it’s like that, huh? No infinite miracle-making. I’ll have to be careful with what I do with them. On the other hand, I can edit old miracles pretty freely, so down the road it won’t really matter what I do with them right now. 

A miracle to send messages… That should be a lesser miracle, right?

I poke the lesser button, and instantly feel a strange void creep into my stomach. Hmm. I’m kind of hungry… However, even as I think about it, the hunger starts fading again. Damn, the people in this city are really devoted, huh? Within only a few minutes, the divinity I used to make the skill has been returned in full. It seems to be slower for my full divinity to increase than it does for the divinity I use to recover, so I guess those two operate differently somehow? Unsure. 

Anyways, with a new miracle ready, I pull up the miracle-maker editor and stare at the blank screen. Huh. Hmm. Um…

You know, in hindsight, I really didn’t think it would be this different from the skill editor. With the skill editor, you had the skill, and you could move stuff around, but now it’s just… nothing. Tabula rasa.

Unsure what else to do, I pull up the script for the Bang! Rat skill.

<Bang! Rat [M] script:

>Define area: [imperial city Kingfist]

>Define materia: [special parameters applied]

Define materia: [rat]

>Activation: [manual]/[fingergun + audio trigger “bang”]

>Designate materia by soul [special parameters applied]

>Exchange materia [special parameters applied -> rat]

>Enact parameters [Standard; 

additional functions enabled]

[Total divinity usage: §0,005]

Divinity used: [Hope]>

[Error!

One or more dependencies missing.

Miracle effect reduced until dependencies updated.]

Oh, this is… Right. Since the buff from hoping to hope isn’t in effect anymore, I guess the effects I was able to snag are ineffective. Hm. Of course, I could ignore all that and continue what I was doing, but…

Let’s see, since I doubt I’ll need to eraticate any more cities in the near future, I think the best way to handle this is to make this my gun. As long as I have one miracle that I can use to defend myself, I don’t mind not having claws or whatever. So, in that case, I’ll need to downsize, reorient, alter…

Nodding to myself, I get to work. 

Since my divine area has increased so much, I’ll be able to use it in more ways than usual. So, instead of defining targets as anyone within kingsfist who doesn’t feel love, hope, or faith towards me, I’ll change it to any sapient within my divine area. Ah, no, wait, then it might activate for several people, if they stand in line. In that case, I’ll have to format special parameters… Urghh, that’s such a bother. 

…Better than accidentally killing someone, I guess.

Okay, it can activate for anyone within my divine area, but I need to be able to sense them somehow, I need to be pointing at them with my fingergun, and it will only activate for a single target. It would be kinda nice if I could figure out a way to make it non-lethal, maybe something that instantly paralyzes people or whatever, but for now, having a gun feels more secure. If nothing else, it’ll be good to use on myself if times get tough. 

…Funnily enough, it seems rats have become one of my rulings, to some degree. I can’t be sure, but I think it might have to do with what’s associated with me. My followers associate me with rats, consider rats sacred, and so… I can make rats. Probably. Who knows, really? 

Anyhow, after a few minutes (more? it’s not like I have a clock on hand) of fiddling around, I’ve finally shaved down the skill to where I’m happy with it. 

<Bang! Rat [L] script:

>Define area: [area of divinity]

>Define materia: [special parameters applied]

Define materia: [rat]

>Activation: [fingergun + audio trigger “bang”]

>Designate materia by soul [special parameters applied]

>Exchange materia [special parameters applied -> rat]

>Enact parameters [Standard; 

additional functions enabled]

[Total divinity usage: §0,000001]

Divinity used: [Hope]>

<Notice:

Due to alterations to miracle,

Bang! Rat has been downgraded to Lesser Miracle.>

Nice and cheap. 

Now, what was I supposed to be doing again…?