The Created God (1)
Baal was running himself ragged dealing with the gods' problems popping up all over the world. Sometimes with brute force, sometimes with threats, sometimes by splitting the gods themselves apart. Watching him bustle about like that... well, it made me think, If that were me, I'd be exhausted for real.
Having dumped the duty of "King of the Gods" on Baal, I spent my leisurely time on personal research. My main project? Building an automated prayer response system.
Responding to prayers from Life Goddess believers was trivial stuff, but the sheer volume was insane. Most of it boiled down to keeping families healthy, warding off illness, extending lifespans... wait, no, I couldn't do that last one. Lifespans are off-limits. Pretty much all the prayers were for the sick, so "keep them from getting sick" covered most cases. I only answered the truly desperate ones or those from the deeply faithful... but humans multiplied like crazy, so I was swamped every day.
But not anymore! Today marks the end! Finally! I did it! I created an AI to handle human prayers automatically! Behold, the Automated Prayer Processing System!!!
Man, this was a real ordeal. Starting from scratch with no AI tech, making something to handle prayers in my stead. I leveraged the Life Goddess faith—which holds little value to me personally—to spawn a virtual Life Goddess proxy, powered by belief. No physical form, of course; it's like an AI assistant humming away in a corner of my mind.
Its function is simple: Detect a prayer, ID the pray-er, check the content, and if it deems it worthy, process it automatically. Even that basic setup is plenty for handling endless prayers! Now I could offload a chunk of my workload!
"What're you daydreaming about? Focus on the job."
"Oh, right."
Of course, inventing the Automated Prayer Processing System didn't eliminate my duties entirely. Right now, I was in the Underworld, helping process the dead.
"Humans breeding like rabbits is bad enough, but lately, so many are dying. And natural deaths are rare—most are collateral from gods fighting. This is a problem. A big problem."
I could only muster an awkward smile at Ceres's grumbling. I knew what she meant; it was her way of side-eyeing me. Why pawn this off on sky gods like Baal instead of handling it yourself?
But what could I do? Baal was still a young god; he needed time to get good at this. If I'd taken the King of Gods gig, I wouldn't have time to help here in the Underworld—or build my prayer AI. So... yeah, I'm in the clear!
"Quit making excuses and get back to work. Your hands stopped."
"Eek..."
"No 'eek'ing. Think you're cute enough to get away with anything?"
"Hey, I'm here helping you guys out. Can't you be a little nicer?"
"Not until you uphold your promise to me. You said you'd make a place for dragons after they die, in exchange for me managing the Underworld, right? Still waiting on that."
Ah, that. Not urgent, so I'd bumped it down the list. No dragons had died of old age yet anyway.
"Won't take long; don't worry."
"Promise?"
"Would I lie?"
(I'd lie if I had to, but not now.) Making a dragon-exclusive afterlife wasn't hard.
"Fine, I'll trust you, Life Goddess. And if you could bolster the Underworld gods..."
"Nah, can't do that."
"Huh?"
Ceres's face fell, despair plain as day.
"Wh-why not? Gods are popping up everywhere. Can't you snag one tied to death for the Underworld?"
Her words carried faint hope. But it wouldn't happen. Couldn't.
No more death gods would be born.
"You death gods already exist, and you're well-known. No room for more."
Gods arise from humanity's fear and longing for the unknown. But the Underworld? Life Goddess pilgrims spread the word. No natural births possible there. Heightened death fears just boost faith in you three managers—no new gods.
"Unless I force one artificially, like my prayer system. An auto-judgment assistant might help. But naturally? Impossible. Humans won't imagine new death gods."
"Th-then... convert another god to an Underworld one?"
Conscript other gods? Hmm... not impossible, but...
"Unless they want it... tough."
Gods are stubborn rebels who never listen!
"Anyway, I'm tweaking a work-assist AI. Polish it up, and it'll work here too. Ease your load some."
"Hope so. But what's an AI?"
Right, basics first.
"Artificial intelligence. Man-made smarts, not born naturally."
"Made by gods, not people, but 'artificial'? Hmm..."
Ceres's face lit with realization.
"Isn't that like Talos?"
"Talos?"
Why bring him up?
"You made Talos, and he has intelligence, right?"
"Talos does?"
No way. He's just a golem. I never gave him sentience...
"When I surface for breaks 'cause work's killing me, Talos always gives me that 'poor me' look. Sometimes I envy him just standing there. Wish we could swap sometimes."
"I don't remember installing any intelligence in Talos."
"He doesn't talk, sure. But his eyes say it all."
Did he? Kinda maybe? Or not. Hard to say.
Hmm. Uh... If Talos really has sentience...
...what was all my AI struggling for? Total wasted effort...
"If that's true, no time to waste. Be right back."
"Huh? Wha—wait! Goddess?! Goddess!! Don't leave me alone! The others are off today! I can't handle this solo! Too much work!! Goddesssssss?!"
I bolted for the Underworld entrance and Talos, ignoring Ceres's wails. If she was right... I could supercharge my prayer AI. Maybe even make it self-judging!
The Black Rock Colossus. Guardian God of the Underworld. Talos.
The giant deity sculpted by the Life Goddess to protect the Underworld. The first golem—and the first created god.
His feats are many, but the most famous? Defending the Underworld from the Demon King's army.
Back then, the Underworld was harsh for life, but part of this world. The Demon King, hellbent on chaos, couldn't ignore it.
So he sent trusted minions and hordes of demons to invade.
But they never entered. Forcing open the gates and descending, the mighty army hit Talos's checkpoint—and got wiped out.
Those forces were the Demon King's main strength. Consensus holds humanity would've fallen quickly without them intact.
Humanity survived thanks to Talos's indirect aid.
Talos