Ket and I toured the cavern’s sights, from moldy mushrooms to dirt-paved floor to the silty stream that trickled through a crack in the wall near the mushroom patch.

Up near the ceiling, we found glowing worms. They constantly emitted a greenish light, which I hadn’t noticed before, and from a distance they glittered like emeralds, making the moss-covered walls look like some magical gem-encrusted grotto.

And just like that, my new cavern-home had a name.

The Grotto was huge by gnome standards, and there was plenty of ground for Ket and I to cover. My inexperience with my god’s-eye vision meant that moving around at times felt akin to being drunk – a state I vaguely remembered from my time as a (presumably) flesh-and-blood being.

I’m sure I would have been far better at it had Ket just left me alone to experiment. As it was, she oversaw my every movement, and trilled excitedly every time I managed to identify a new blueprint, be it the moss carpeting the walls or the cave spiders lurking in dark corners.

We practiced this for what felt like hours, with Ket helping to guide my focus until I no longer whizzed around uncontrollably any time I tried to alter my perspective. I was amazed at how much life there was to be found in my cave; things I’d barely even noticed before.

Insects and lizards were plentiful; there was also a squirrel that scampered down a tree root overhanging the ceiling hole, and a fox that briefly wandered in from the Grotto’s single side-tunnel entrance, at the far side of the mushroom patch.

Every creature was revealed to me and elevated in my understanding by its blue-glowing form, thanks to my Insight ability, and all of them fed me with a small but constant source of ambient mana, which I did not currently need, but was nonetheless welcome.

Finally, we returned to my gem on its humble hillock. Gneil still stood beside me, guarding me from his impious kin.

Why won’t he leave me alone?

I attempted to use Insight on the scruffy little gnome. But instead of a simulacrum made of glowing blue lines and useless information, I saw… nothing.

I tried again. And again. But the only gnome form I could see was the mundane one kneeling in front of me.

‘Why can’t I see Gneil’s blueprint?’ I asked Ket.

‘Because, Corey,’ she explained patiently, ‘Gneil is an intelligent being, as are the other gnomes, therefore your Insight ability does not extend to him. Plants and animals – in other words, non-intelligent creatures – are the limit of your intrinsic understanding, I’m afraid, as well as your source of ambient mana.’

Wonderful.

As much as I disliked what Ket was telling me, I supposed it made sense – though I suspected calling the gnomes ‘intelligent’ was pushing it a bit.

‘If I can’t replicate them, and they don’t give me mana, how do Gneil and the others benefit me?’

‘You’ll find out in just a moment. Look!’

She sounded excited. Below us, my gem had glowed a very faint red, probably in response to my frustration. Gneil had caught sight of this and moved closer.

To my utter surprise, he proceeded to kneel in front of me. He stared down at my gem for a moment, those huge, watery eyes of his closing. Hands clasped together in front of him, he bent forward and bowed his head, the unmistakable pose of a man at prayer.

Immediately, swirling blue lines began to flow from Gneil. Bright, strong, fast and sure, they whirled along their unseen channels from my new worshiper and into my gem. I felt their presence like a sugar rush, a nourishing boost that no doubt could not be sustained for long.

‘You’ve just gained your first Faithful denizen, Corey. Congratulations!’ Ket beamed.

I barely heard her. It was like being pleasantly stuffed after a meal of the finest food, except I hadn’t even realized I was hungry. I would have gasped aloud, had I lungs and air to fill them. As it was, I simply lay there and glowed, basking pleasantly in the warm sensation.

‘Are you… purring?’

‘Maybe.’ I groaned happily. ‘Don’t care. Ket… what is this?’

‘You, Corey, have just Ascended.’ She sounded smug, as though she’d been the one to cause it.

‘Ass-what?’ I slurred, my mind befuddled by the warm fuzzy feelings enveloping me.

‘Every fragment of Faith that penetrates you—’

‘Ugh, please don’t use that word…’

‘— is absorbed by your gem until your current capacity is completely filled. When that happens – when fulfilment occurs – you Ascend.’

Confused, my mind formed a mental picture of my gem levitating in the air. When I asked Ket if she meant I’d be able to float, she chuckled.

‘Not physically,’ she explained. ‘Though your gem will grow slightly larger and more resilient the more powerful you become. But no floating. I mean you Ascend… spiritually.’

‘To where?’

‘Not ‘where’. What.’

‘To what, then?’ I asked.

‘The next tier of godhood.’

‘Oh.’

‘Now take a closer look at Gneil and tell me what you see.’

More curious than annoyed now, I scrutinized Gneil with every ounce of focus I could muster. In addition to the blue lines flowing from gnome to gem, Gneil’s kneeling form was also suffused with a warm green glow.

This green aura was erratic, peaking and ebbing sporadically. Furthermore, the blue mana lines were already growing wispy and weak. Some even faded completely before they reached me, which I thought to be rather rude of them.

‘What is this?’ I asked Ket suspiciously. ‘Why is he giving me mana now, but not before? And what’s the green stuff?’

‘The “green stuff”,’ said the sprite, ‘is Faith. Gneil is actively worshiping you.’ Ket gestured down at the kneeling gnome. ‘Whenever a Faithful denizen does this, they produce mana – the blue lines – which will replenish your own supplies. Furthermore, every Faithful gnome emits a certain amount of ambient Faith at all times – the “green stuff”.’

‘He’s barely giving me anything,’ I observed. ‘Can’t he worship a bit harder?’

Ket flared, and I felt her anger across our invisible connection. ‘You might try to be a little more grateful for what you’ve got, Corey, especially considering you’ve done very little to actually earn little Gneil’s Faith so far.’

I subdued my own frustration at my pathetic situation.

Don’t anger the sprite. I need her, at least for now.

‘Yes. Sorry,’ I muttered.

It was enough to appease her. ‘Yes, well, as I was saying,’ she huffed, ‘Faith is what enables you to Ascend, which in turn gives you access to new God Core abilities. Do you see the triangle on the left side of your vision?’

Now she mentioned it, I did. It was inverted; point-down. The triangle’s outline was greenish and faintly glowing, and it was labelled with a symbol I didn’t consciously recognize but which my mind knew represented the number two. The bottom tip of the triangle seemed to be glowing a brighter green than the rest.

‘That triangle measures your progress toward Ascension,’ said Ket. ‘You reached tier two when Gneil converted to become Faithful. The next milestone is tier three. Look more closely at the triangle’s point and you’ll see what I mean.’

I focused on the bottom of the triangle as Ket instructed. As I’d suspected, it was glowing more greenly than the rest. To my surprise, the more I stared at it, the more it seemed to fill with the green stuff. As faint parallel horizontal lines came into view, crossing the triangle in rows of striped tiers, I realized I was actually honing in on the very bottom portion of what was a very large and many-sectioned measuring device. The bottom-most section was filled with glowing greenness; everything above it was empty.

It seemed the lines represented these so-called ‘god tiers’, and I’d have to gain enough Faithful followers to fill each section before I could reach the following tier. The inverted shape of the triangle meant that every subsequent section was larger, and would therefore be harder to fill.

Well, that’s just awesome.

I glanced across from the triangle over to the mana globe on my right – no, two mana globes now. A second one had appeared, just above the first and connected by a narrow aperture.

‘I’ve got another mana globe!’ I exclaimed.

‘That’s right! And if you take a look at your gem, you might notice why…’

Wondering why she sounded so pleased with herself, I eyed my gem – and yelped. ‘Did I get… bigger?’

The sprite sniggered. ‘Just a little. Like I said earlier, each time you Ascend, your gem will expand, which increases your mana capacity. This is visually represented by the amount of globes you have.’

The new globe was paler and almost transparent – empty, I realized – but was slowly beginning to fill up with pulsing blue mana.

‘So I now have two mana globes instead of one. One globe for each tier?’

‘That’s right, Corey.’ Ket sounded pleased. ‘And the new globe should already be filling as a result of the mana you’re gaining from Gneil’s worship. Ascension is a wonderful thing, no?’

It was indeed – though, disappointingly, the pleasant feeling it had given me had almost entirely faded by now. Still, the receding euphoria allowed me to better concentrate on what Ket had just said.

‘So these ‘tiers’,’ I said. ‘They’re sort of… internal milestones?’

‘Correct.’

‘And I have to reach these in order to gain new powers?’

‘Correct.’

‘And the only way to reach these milestones – these god tiers – is by filling the triangle with Faith, which can only be done by gaining more worshipers?’

‘Correct again! Smart rock.’ Ket glowed proudly at my understanding.

I didn’t feel very smart. My mind whirled with all these new revelations. Learning so much – first the god’s-eye vision and Insight ability, then all the ambient mana stuff, and now Ascension and Faith – in so short a time was messing with my brain, wherever that was situated now.

Suddenly, Gneil clambered to his feet. A moment later, I saw why: another gnome had appeared on our hillock, a female this time, judging by the wispiness of her beard.

I tensed, assuming she’d come to fling fungi like the others, but it seemed she wasn’t interested in me. Bent-backed and wizened, she spared not a glance at my gem, instead hobbling straight toward Gneil.