3 I Became a God... of the System?

"Damn it!"

Karl was angry.

"Fricking @$%#! $%@&!"

Karl was very angry.

At the sorry excuse of a God that had tricked him into this mess without any help whatsoever. At the heartless system that ignored his pleas and did whatever it wanted. At himself, most of all.

Could he think about what he was going to say before doing it? Yes, most certainly.

Did he do it? Obviously not!

Why not? Who knows?!

It was very obvious at this point, that the system reacted to some of his voice commands from time to time and he just had to go and say "Put that planet into the trash" ...

Great! That was the only planet he had! Why did he even think that? Why did he have to say that out loud of all things?! His unstoppable and irresponsible mouth had once again ruined everything!

"Come on, System. Help me out once in a while!" Karl whined again and would have loved to kick something, if only there was anything here... Maybe he could create a rock and kick that, he would have to keep that idea in mind.

[Access to Help mode requested. Permission granted. Initiating Help Mode]

"Oooohhhh!" Karl exclaimed full of surprise. So there was a help mode after all?! Weirdly enough it had never activated so far... No matter how much he had begged for it...

[Help Mode activated. New User detected. Do you wish to enter Tutorial Mode?]

"Yes, yes, yes, I do! Please enter Tutorial mode!" Karl hastily replied, as if the chance would slip away if he hesitated for even a fraction of a second.

[Tutorial mode activated. Initiating setup]

Turns out, this was not such a crappy day after all. Karl had spent hours with this mind-numbingly irritating system and was already beginning to get used to its whims, but who could say no to a Tutorial, when one's life literally depended on it? He wondered, why this was not the very first thing it had asked him when he arrived here though...

[Welcome, new User, 'Karl'. Thank you for using the God-system. Please pay attention, the basic functions of the God-system will be presented shortly]

So far so good. Great naming sense by the way, simple and straightforward.

[The God-system was created to support Users in creation and administration tasks as well as to establish order among the Celestials. Basic Control is performed by using the prefix 'system', followed by the intended basic function or command. Commands given in an explicit context can be interpreted as well. Custom settings and interaction habits can be set freely]

"What? This thing only listens to me if I give the commands in the right way, except when it doesn't? Talk about inconvenient..." Karl murmured. This at least explained why it had seemed so unreliable up until now.

That was a thing of the past though, as he quickly went through all of the information that presented itself in front of him and began to change the settings to his liking.

[Beginner settings loaded. Free speech interpretation activated. Cost control function activated. Command confirmation toggled on. Assistance mode selected. Confirm changes?]

"Yes!" He authorized with a victorious grin on his face. Who could have expected there to be so many options? He did not even make it through all of the menus! Pretty much everything could be customized with this system — he just hoped, that the choices he made would prove useful.

[Changes confirmed]

[Rebooting...]

[Welcome, User 'Karl'. Thank you for using the God-system. All settings have been updated and the system is fully operational. Please enjoy your creations]

"Alright, time to get things rolling. I wonder what else this system has kept from me so far." Karl said in high spirits. He had almost forgotten the crushing defeat that the system's hands had inflicted upon him just a short while ago and was very eager to test some of the newly activated functions.

"Test! Is this thing working properly?"

[Question detected. Answering the question will cost you 0 faith. Do you want to confirm your question?]

"Still a bit clunky it seems. Don't state the unnecessary details all the time and also stop asking for confirmation if it is free anyway — as long as no planets are destroyed in the process of course." Karl said, testing if the 'free speech interpretation function' did what he expected it to.

[Preferences saved. Commencing to answer question: The God-system is working properly]

"That's a lot better! I did not think I would eventually manage to communicate with this thing... So, what is this about questions costing faith?"

[Everything has its price. Depending on the difficulty of obtaining the requested answer, equivalent compensation is necessary]

"Oh, okay. So faith seems to be something like a currency, hmm? How can I obtain it then?"

[Faith is generated each turn according to follower count and quality. It may also be received through trade and completing missions]

"Wow! This really does feel more and more like an MMO now... Let's start with the followers then, how am I supposed to get any? You literally trashed my only planet, remember? Thanks again by the way..."

[Followers can be created manually, evolve naturally, or be acquired through trade. System logs show one recent scrapping, Planet 'Terrania'. For further information or to start a new creation, please enter Creation Mode]

"Oh, a Creation Mode? That's more like it! I guess it is only natural for a God to create stuff, I was already wondering how to do that."

Karl was not dissatisfied with the recent revelations. Finally, he had managed to tame this stupid system, forcing it to do his bidding! No more unexpected surprises and no more enigmas to break his head over. He was in control. All of a sudden his situation did not seem as dire anymore.

"Enter Creation Mode!"

[Welcome to Creation Mode, new User 'Karl'. A starter pack has been added to your inventory. You can now begin the creation of your first planet free of charge. Please see the creation guidelines for further information]

"What? My first planet is free anyway? Sweet! And here I was crying over a stupid rock — I can make a way better planet in no time!"

Karl was positively surprised by the kindness of the system. There were a lot of benefits for new users, quite generous indeed. He was already looking forward to playing around with all the possible ways to set up his own, custom-made planet! Who said it was hard to be a God? Who said it was work? This turned out to be more like playing a strategy game with admin rights; he could easily get used to that.

"Enter Inventory!"

[You have received materials through scrapping Planet 'Terrania'. 73 new blueprints unlocked]

After a short notification, rows of materials presented themselves in front of his eyes and were sorted into various fitting categories, such as 'Minerals', 'Metals' and 'Organisms', even all of the squishy Microbes from before seemed to be there, unharmed. Yet, after scrolling for a while, he still failed to find a special something that he had been looking for.

"Hey, where is my starter pack? Why isn't it listed anywhere?!" Karl complained.

[The starter pack is only awarded once per system ID and has already been claimed]

"What?! But I just entered Creation Mode for the first time! Who used my starter pack?!"

Karl was furious. He did not expect much to begin with, but being promised something nice, just to end up empty-handed... that was just cruel! How dare the system play with his emotions like this!

[Item claimed by User 'Thandoril'. Refund impossible]

"F#%@! It's that guy again! Oh, when I get my hands on him... He really left me on a sinking ship that bastard!"