---Viktor's POV---

  My expression became serious as I studied the orb more carefully. The golden light pulsed weakly under my scrutiny, like a dying fshlight trying to vineo still had battery life.

  "So you're not just a se fragment of divine essence, but a fragment that became se?"

  That was like finding a self-aware USB sti a world that hadn't ied electricity yet.

  For a divine essence, a tool with su instrumental and funal nature, to give birth to sciousness was already incredible. Ahis light orb wasn't even a plete divine essence?

  What kind of ridiculous luck was this?

  The light orb looked up at me in fusion. "What is 'se'?"

  "You don't o know." Something you cim to be but clearly aren't.

  "Oh." The light orb sulked and fell silent.

  I watched as the orb dimmed and brightened rhythmically, like a nervous pulse. From its submissive posture and flickering light, I could guess it robably trying to viself to behave.

  While watg its pathetic dispy, I turned my attention to examining what I'd actually gained.

  My head throbbed as I assessed my authorities.

  It was parable to scraps left behind by the God of Life. The authority of Life Revival and Life Purification sounded det, but the skills that could be developed from it were nowhere he God of Life's level of creating life.

  At most, it could speed up the growth of a target or heal serious injuries.

  For example, the Light Teique learned by every follower of the God of Light—which both healed wounds and damaged monsters—inated from these two authorities.

  But that was it.

  The authority had extremely low potential. The God of Life could create existeself, and I got what amouo a magical band-aid.

  Wonderful.

  I didn't know whether to cry h. Fet it, no point in expeg too much at o's good enough to have something usable.

  Looking at the lihat dispyed [Divine Power: 99], my mental avatar in my inner sanctum stroked its .

  "y-nine divine power... I wonder how much that heal..." As I spoke, my thought moved, and the number on the panel for divine pan to slowly decrease.

  The light orb, watg the number ge on the panel, was suddenly filled with panic. "Stop!" it shouted loudly. "Wait! You 't just—"

  "I 't just what? Use what's mine now? Funny how that works."

  I suddenly felt a warm current flow through my body. The pain, which had g to me like bone cer, eased slightly.

  Even the panel data ged.

  ---

  [Name: Viktor][...][Divine Power: 89][Followers: None][Special Items: Int??dim????Spirit??, Divine tract (Reversed)][Status: Severely Injured, Weakness, Frostbite, Burns, Poisoning, Inner Sanctum Colpse, ...][Summary: Dying Undead][Remaining survival time: 5 days 23 hours 14 minutes]

  ---

  Oatus bar, oive buff—Bone Fracture—disappeared, and my survival time increased by two days.

  When the divine power stopped at 89 points, the light orb's glow suddenly stabilized, and it let out what sounded suspiciously like a relieved sigh.

  "Oh thank the heavens," it muttered. "I thought... I thought you were going to..."

  "You should be grateful it worked at all!" the orb added defensively.

  I chuckled. "Oh, I'm grateful. Grateful I didn't trust you. You weren't afraid when you tricked me into signing a tract. Are you scared now?"

  The current predit of the light orb was exactly what it had initially tried to do to me. Of course, I wasn't foolish enough to use all the divine power at once.

  The first time was just a test.

  Looking at my three full rows of ive buffs, I clicked my tongue. "It's somewhat useful, but not much."

  It had only removed a single fracture buff.

  Leaving my inner sanctum briefly, I checked my body lying lifelessly in the dirt. At a gnce, I could see the bohat had been broken by the magical backsh explosion had reected. I had even grown two rib-like new bones.

  If I were to use the Osseous Vitae to treat this, it would probably require 500 grams. So—10 points of divine power was equivalent to 500 grams of Osseous Vitae. On the magic trade market, its estimated price was around 5,000 gold s.

  sidering that Osseous Vitae was extremely difficult to create and also a forbidden material, this price could go even higher. Even so—the effect of 10 points of divine power was a bit... underwhelming.

  In other words, the 99 points of divine power were only worth 5 kilos of Osseous Vitae?

  When in doubt, ask the source.

  I stared suspiciously at the light orb. "Why do you only have this little divine power?"

  This limited amount of power was going to make my pns very difficult...

  The light orb's body glowed faintly pink, as though blushing in shame. "It's not my fault. Earlier, you were turnio a system and iing your body, or else I'd still have triple digits of divine power!"

  "What triple digits?"

  "100."

  I eechless.

  "S you into a system only ed 1 point of divine power..." I paused, finally realizing something. "Wait—turning you into something equivalent to a data panel used up 1 point of divine power?!"

  "One point of divine power for a system interface? That's like using a diamond to scrat itch!"

  My voivoluntarily rose. The purchasing power—no, the value of divine power—was even lower than I imagined. 1 point of divine power was equivalent to a third-level Life Sigil spell...

  The reality hit me hard, almost driving me crazy. "And before that? Even for a niche god, this amount of divine power is ughable. What, did you have like three followers worshipping you over the millennia?"

  "Of course not!" the light orb hastily retorted. "I had to find someone worthy!"

  "And you spent all your divine power window shopping? Brilliant strategy."

  "The search for a successor is a sacred duty!" the orb defended.

  "A sacred duty that left you with pocket ge for power. How inspirational."

  "Divine power o be eled to where it is most likely to revive the God of Creativity. I'm just a fragment of the God of Creativity's divine essenot plete, so I didn't get the main share of the divine power. After that, I used up most of my divine power to search for a mage with the potential to bee a god…"

  The orb's light flickered erratically. "Do you have any idea how long I wandered across this wretched ti? Years! Years of using precious divine power just to find someone—ah a spark of godly potential!"

  I watched with mild amusement as the orb's glow pulsed with each word, like a malfuning ntern.

  "And then—" The orb's light dimmed to almost nothing. "Then I finally find someone worthy, and it's... it's..."

  "A half-dead undead who turhe tables on you?" I offered helpfully.

  The orb fred briefly in frustration. "If only the God of Time would give me another ce! I should have stayed in the divine realm. Even fading into nothing would be better than... than this!"

  Watg a divine essehrow a tantrum is certainly a new one.

  I looked wordlessly at the light orb, which was growing increasingly distraught, and said, "So, in short, you spent all your divine power on yourself?"

  Your eise is worse than a drunk mert at a fire sale. No wonder I could so easily turables on it.

  The rest of the attributes on the panel didn't need much scrutiny. With the fragment of the God of Creativity's divine essence, I was effectively a pseudo-god, albeit below the god-level in strength.

  Naturally, I could attract followers.

  The special items were: a glowing orb ected to Earth's work and a reverse tract between me and the golden light orb.

  Nothing else could help me repair my body or plete my virtual reality game project.

  Putting the panel aside, I looked at the glowing blue orb. While speaking, I hadn't stopped eling mana into the orb. Now, my access to Earth's work had expanded slightly.

  Though most secure systems still blocked me out, I could finally browse the regur i.

  I thought. From what I see onlih already has the teology to create virtual reality games, and there's even one being promoted right now...

  If I ride this wave of hype, I should be able to attract quite a few leeks—ah no, pyers!

  Let's do it.

  Before my transmigration, I had learned a bit about web design as a hobby, and I still remembered some of the skills. Now was the perfect time to use them to create the official game website. Ohe website was ready, I could promote the game and recruit pyers.

  At least I won't have to worry about mobile optimization. Small mercies.

  I briefly left my inner sanctum to check my surroundings.

  The monks from the Radiant Church were still at it, unwilling to give up as they returned for another search.

  I had to suppress a chuckle watg them meticulously s the area, pletely oblivious to what y right beh their feet. Some things never ge—their persistence was matched only by their cluelessness.

  Finding nothing, they began removing their exploration equipment from around the stoar. Keep looking, gentlemen.

  I smirked to myself before returning to my inner sanctum, where I could foy work with proper enthusiasm. Their fruitless search would make excellent background noise for my project.

  ---Third POV: Oh---

  If there was o topi the gaming world retly, it had to be the game herworld Revolution that Skyrain pany romoting heavily. This game was said to be a 100% realistic virtual reality game.

  "Skyrain's Latest Venture: Innovation or Illusion?" bred the headlines across gaming news sites.

  However, the only materials released so far were a ten-minute cept video and a bunarketing cims like "I heard", "My friend works at Skyrain", or "Someone who participated in internal testing said..."

  The authenticity was entirely questionable.

  "Another day, another Skyrain scam. Who's surprised?" A typical forum post summarized the general se.

  Still—as a major i pany, Skyrain's greatest skill was viral marketing. Even if this was just a cept video for attrag iors—whether the game itself eveed was uain—Skyrain's annou of developiherworld Revolution had reached 80% of gamihusiasts.

  On YouTube, the cept video hit 20 million views in just three days. This kind of attention had only been seen with "Elven Ring" three years ago.

  However, uhe eion for "Elven Ring," which was filled with hopeful anticipatioherworld Revolution's eion was much more plicated:

  "How do I get this video off my homepage?"

  "Skyrain is undering money again!"

  "Oh look, Skyrain made an game?"

  "Virtual reality games? That's such a tired gimmick. Why bring it back?"

  "If this game is real, I'll eat ten pounds!"

  Due to Skyrain pany's "reputation", no one believed the game was real. Everyone assumed it was just another cash grab.

  Virtual reality games? Ha! What a joke!

  "Current braieology is simply ie for true VR gaming," decred a promiealyst iest industry report.

  Although brainwave-reading teology had emerged several years ago, it could only read basic brainwave signals from the brain's surface. The teology was more often used in meical operations, such as trolling drones without remote trols, but it was far from what gamers imagined for developing virtual reality games.

  Game panies had tried to use this teology to create virtual reality games, but every attempt was a huge failure. Because brainwaves varied in strength between individuals, few pyers could eveer the game, let alone live in a game world like real life.

  Most couldn't even issue simple movement ands like walking up, dow, ht.

  The teology was impossible to popurize.

  Moreover, the graphics couldn't simute reality and were inferior even tames from over a decade ago. The rough, uny character models were enough to scare off pyers with weak stitutions.

  Low realism, but 10ht factor!

  In summary—for this kind of "scam" game promoted through shady marketing tactics, pyers were in an uproar. But Skyrain pany's goal was still achieved.

  herworld Revolution had gone viral.

  On every ptform, any tent eveely reted to herworld Revolution was being criticized. The level of discussion skyrocketed. Whether fans or haters, ime herworld Revolution released news, it would surely get plenty of attention.

  That's the be of "bad publicity."

  The game gained popurity, pyers veheir a Skyrain, and game streamers got traffic—a in. It even reignited discussions about the feasibility of virtual reality games.

  Logan was one of those riding the wave of herworld Revolution's popurity.

  "Hey everyone, NeverShowOff here with another ho gaming review," Logan's voice rang out clear and fident through his stream setup.

  "Logan always tells it like it is!" scrolled a viewer ent.

  Thanks guys, though hoy doesn't pay the bills...

  His fans affeately called him "Show Master."

  He was a veteran game streamer on Twitch.

  While he wasn't the absolute best, he was definitely among the top tiers of the gaming world.

  He had det gaming and video editing skills.

  Yet, he wasn't famous.

  After four to five years as a tent creator, he still only had a pitiful 100,000 followers. The money he earned barely covered his living expenses.

  The reason? He was just too unlucky.

  Every time there was a hot topi the gaming world, Logan somehow mao miss it. And without riding trends, how could he grow his audience, let alone "break into other ptforms"—cough, ahem.

  Never mind.

  But this time, herworld Revolution's explosion in popurity had finally given him a ce.

  Despite his struggles, Logan never sidered switg careers.

  He had held on because of his deep love faming. Before being a streamer, he was a hardcamihusiast.

  A virtual reality gaming fanatic.

  From the first time he entered the cept of virtual reality games as a child, he was hooked on the idea of such a game world.

  A sed life, a utopia indistinguishable from reality, and skills that truly came from within himself—

  Who wouldn't want that?

  He was incredibly knowledgeable about the progress of virtual reality games from every majaming pany. When brainwave-reading teology appeared years ago, he checked for updates daily.

  But in the end, it only brought endless disappoi.

  Yet Logan never gave up.

  He firmly believed that in his lifetime, he would get to py a virtual reality game. And if he couldn't, his children randchildren would have to burn him a gaming pod ierlife.

  Because he knew so much about the virtual reality field, when he first saw herworld Revolution's cept video, he immediately criticized it.

  "Look at these rendering artifacts. Cssic CG tells," he pointed out to his viewers. "They're not even trying to hide the pre-rendered ses."

  "Finally someone speaking truth about this scam!" his chat erupted.

  Fake!

  Fake beyond fake!

  The whole thing was CG with no signs of virtual reality teology. And they dared to call this a virtual reality game?

  It wasn't even good enough to be an ior pitch; it was just another scam game. But Logan couldn't stand that they were trying to deceive people in the name of virtual reality.

  The development of holographic teology was already incredibly difficult. If Skyrain muddied the waters now, when a real virtual reality game eventually appeared, pyers wouldn't trust it.

  Virtual reality game development costs were massive. Failing to recoup costs quickly was essentially a death sentence.

  By doing this, Skyrain was crushing the future potential of virtual reality games.

  Fueled by anger, he spent two hours creating a rant video about herworld Revolution's cept trailer. He had only inteo vent his frustration and yers not to be fooled.

  Uedly, herworld Revolution blew up.

  Because Logan uploaded his video early, its stats soared as well.

  In the eion, a group of like-minded gamihusiasts gathered to join him in cursing Skyrain. The video's views, ents, likes, and shares were ten times higher than usual.

  Logan had initially posted the video on impulse.

  When he checked the stats, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

  After so many years—

  Finally, it was his turn to catch the trend. He was going to be famous!

  He immediately started w on the sed and third episodes of his herworld Revolution rant series.

  Whether he ate ed food or steak month would depend on these videos. He had to ride the wave while everyone was still fired up about herworld Revolution.

  More te more views, more followers, and more success!