Chapter 7 - A Pyramid Scheme That Actually Works

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

[System]

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…

Upon picking from the three options, the goblin froze, a complete and utter biological stop in all mannerisms.

And then the goblin twitched. It was looked at weirdly by the other goblins that it had been conversing with.

Underneath the skin, something began moving. Then it appeared. A tendril escaped from the back of the goblin near the spine.

Accompanied by a squelching sound, another tendril escaped on its right arm. The black, slimy, bloody tendril wiggled through the air.

The goblin was panting following the transformation. But to me, the transformation was a work of art.

The tendrils and tentacles the goblin would grow were tied directly into its anatomy and allowed biological growth on a lesser being.

"What happened to that goblin?" Seiya, the boy, said as he walked over to me.

"I simply gave a blessing for praying to me."

"Giving strength to the lesser of lesser's in exchange for obedience is a far cry from where I should be."

"By giving trauma to the tendrils that spawn from the goblin, it will cause the growth of its new limbs. By cutting off its tendrils, new ones will take their place."

After speaking, I suddenly felt tired—no, I wasn't tired. I was sleepy.

Turning towards Seiya, I had one last idea occupy my mind as unconsciousness pushed onto me.

"You said there were occupations, correct? As in more than one, more humans must have been brought, correct?"

"How many humans have been brought over along with you?"

"Can you communicate with them at this moment?"

My rapid fire of questions seemed to be carefully taken into consideration by Seiya, as he could be seen thinking.

"There is a way I can talk to all the experts that are on the fallen islands. I believe there are over ten million people who have been brought here, and more may come. I can communicate with them at any time." As soon as Seiya finished speaking, I smiled. There was something I needed all of the humans to hear.

…

[Hello, everyone! As you may know, my name is Seiya, the person who has made contact with a god. The reason I came to you today is because my god has asked that I address you. I am making a guild or church for my god and wanted to know if anyone would want to join.

My god has the ability to bless other beings that worship them and wants to find loyal and devout followers who are in need of power. If you are interested, the guild will be called the "Lovecraftian Mythos" and will only be joinable by paying five gold for membership. Many of you will have a problem with that price, but my god has said that it will only get more expensive as time goes on. Sacrifice the things you kill and pray to my God; all who do so shall be heard. Thank you for your time.]

…

(First POV: Seiya)

"I have done what you've said, but the other experts don't seem to be happy," I said as I looked at my god.

"It is to be expected, giving up hard-earned resources to join a God of unknown strength."

"They will soon know the truth, and my strength will make itself clear. Whether through submission or subjugation, they will all fall."

"Humans are creatures that believe what they can see. For the longest time, they asked God, an invisible figure they couldn't see, questions of why. I am a guarantee; I am a being that can manifest in front of their eyes, and I can give and take."

As the three heads of God spoke, I couldn't help but wonder what this would accomplish.

"I see, but why have we done this? What was the point in announcing this?" I asked aloud.

"""Do you know the description of a pyramid scheme?""" The god's three heads rang out all at once.

"Yes, I do. Why?" I asked a bit nervously.

"You see pyramid schemes fail when the leader of the scheme knows what they have made is fake. And because of that falseness that they themselves cannot believe in, the pyramid comes crashing down with the leader falling the hardest."

"But what if you truly believe in what you're spouting? That is a cult built on lies, no matter how hard you believe. But what if humanity believed in what they could see in front of them, me?"

"By making this exclusive guild and taking money from them per entry, we can maximize the spread of my growth in this universe. The longer this goes on, the more exclusive the guild becomes, and when the top of that group is getting powerful abilities given by God, who wouldn't try to join?"

As the god's heads spoke one after the other, my eyes began to widen to the bigger picture.

"You mean you are going to seem like a scam to humanity and then show that what you are saying has been the truth all along? That would boost the morale of people that stuck from the beginning while creating an influx of new people." As I finished speaking, I saw the three heads of the god start showing more teeth.

"You are correct. Humans are very visual creatures, yet somehow, they were able to start believing in a god that hasn't shown himself. All I would need to do is show what I can grant them and prove myself to be real; they would turn to putty in my claws."

"I told you to have nine levels in the guild so that it makes them push harder for the rewards on those levels. Having yourself being level 9 and myself being higher than even that."

"We need two humans, both beautiful and extraordinarily talented. By showing off the results of the male human to other male humans, they would come crawling. By showing off the wealth, beauty, status, and power of words from our female human. Other female humans will become drawn to get into their position, which means they would have to go to me."

As me and my god continued the conversation, he explained to me the plan.

I would make a guild and charge people five gold for entry; by doing this, I would have more soldiers.

I would set up levels for the guild, with level one being the lowest and level nine being the highest.

The more time, effort, and monetary resources someone spent in the guild to help me, the higher they would go up in their guild level.

To put value into this, my god would bless people at certain levels and give extra benefits to those of higher levels.

Due to the master-servant contract, my god was already in the guild with the "highest" position, but he told me to set a level higher than nine and call it the "last void."

After doing that, I needed to get two people of opposite genders to act as influencers for our guild. By showing off the skills, status, and power of those two people, other people would want what they have.

I was given two different things to do for men and women, as they have "different hierarchies," I was told.

This world doesn't have any social media or fast-traveling news, but my god had told me that he wanted to control it. By filling the heads of everyone who heard of us with propaganda, we could theoretically never have big enemies.

After all, who wants to fight God? Eventually, from a young age, people would learn to never revolt against my god. If he said the sky was red, then it was. If he said to jump, they should ask, "How far?"

I knew that gods were arrogant, and as long as you showed proper devotion, you would be rewarded. That was one of the main reasons my tone shifted upon seeing that the creature in front of me was a god.

My god had told me that he was going to sleep for a little while. But what he said last chilled me a bit.

"""As the mortal mind doubts and wonders, I know what I am. I am a constant that all manner of creatures grasp for security. I am an undoubted existence once eyes have been laid upon my form. I am the chaser of all-sight/I am the end/I am free reign."""

Although it chilled me, it filled me with an undeniable feeling of security in my choice.

I do wonder, do gods dream? And if they did, what would my God be dreaming about?

…

(Third POV: Unknown)

In a void of nothingness, near-indescribable creatures danced. Their tendrils and tentacles move around in random rhythms to the sounds of amorphous flute players.

In the center of all this lies nuclear chaos, sleeping entirely unbothered by anything going on around him. The great daemon sultan, Azathoth, continued sleeping.

The sultan's many eyes stay closed. His gargantuan form made all the other creatures seem small as they continued to circle him in their dance as if he were a black hole.

His tendrils and tentacles were moving softly and freely. His many mouths, some closed and some open.

However, while all of this took place as it always had, someone was missing. Well, something was missing.

In the corner of the last void, near where the light of the all-in-one scared the creatures stuck inside the ultimate gate, a heated discussion was taking place.

|<All In One, I ask once again that you reconsider and set me free from this cage have trapped in. am will; reign! cannot be stuck, unable to see my own truest freedom!>|

A being, looking like an almost exact one-to-one copy of the great daemon sultan himself, argued with the gate of light.

|<Azaogdesz, you may be free will, but I will not hear out your pleas for freedom. We both know what chaos cause once freed from this void.>| The light said as it spoke back to Azaogdesz, throwing logic into his face.

|<I CAN DO THIS NO LONGER! To sit in this void and sleep while my instincts tell me to spread freedom is considered destined insanity any lesser being, but me, it simply an annoyance that I can't bother listen longer. As watch Nyarlathotep's avatars travel back forth over am mocked by him, rage against the temptations of eating him.>| Azaogdesz's tendrils lashed out like whips against the gate as he spoke.

As the tendrils met the gate, they burned and turned to dust before new ones formed.

|<I ask you, Azaogdesz, to< strong> sleep as you have done before. Stop this foolish desire for freedom, give up, and let go.>| The All In One said as more tendrils burned in the light of his being.

|<You ask me to sleep! LIKE MY SPAWNER BEFORE ME?!>| Azaogdesz screamed once more with an eldritch abomination of a voice that would rip apart any mortal creature's sanity.

Suddenly, Azaogdesz paused. His entire body calmed down as a multitude of smiles formed on his faces.

|<You want me to sleep? Then let us bet.>| Azaogdesz said.

Azaogdesz knew that Yog-Sothoth was an "intellectual" who loved exchanging information. In other words, Yog-Sothoth was a nerd who loved hearing about how cool he was.

|<Continue, >| Yog-Sothoth said as he took the bait. Azaogdesz knew that he was omniscient, but he also knew that he wouldn't look into the future of the conversation he has with beings due to his "hobby" of sharing information with lesser beings.

|<I bet you that if I were able to send an avatar out the outside, even impossibly suppressed, it would survive,>| Azaogdesz said as he closed his eyes.

|<What would I win in this bet?>| Yog-Sothoth said with amusement. |<You've only said your side.>|

|<Of course,>| Azaogdesz smirked with his many mouths as he spoke. |<You want me to sleep, and so I shall. The rules of this bet are simple.< strong>

I will send an avatar from this void into a random part of the material realm. If this avatar lives to the juvenile stage of growth, then I win. Until I win, I will be asleep next to my spawner, like you asked. You will be able to give this avatar any misfortune but can't directly control life forms to attack it.>|

|<You know, Azaogdesz, out of all the ones in this void, you are most amusing. I accept deal, and will be giving only one deed misfortune. shall name it "Creator God" effect. All mortal creatures that come into contact with granted a plethora benefits, for every attack they land on your avatar, equal my own power. Do misfortune?>| Yog-Sothoth said as laughter could be heard echoing around the edge of the void.

|<I accept.>|