The basket glowed bright, until it turned into a blue light shaped like the basket. It then diffused and flowed towards the altar, seemingly being absorbed by it. It was a success! Nemer felt also slightly, juuuuuuust slightly, more powerful. Of course he would be, he absorbed something.

He suddenly felt like, the mist barrier got a little bit larger. Wait a minute. He turned off his [Arcus Vision] and shot up through the canopy of the large tree, and when he got up, he saw the mist steadily get farther. It did not go very far though, only roughly 5 centimeters away from its original position. ‘Was this due to me absorbing the basket?’ he thought. He was wrong.

Arcus absorbed from physical objects does not make a god stronger, both lesser and greater. They simply gain fuel from them. Actually, they don't even need to take tributes, as another plane is already providing them with ample supply of Arcus. Gods were different from mortals, who needs Arcus to survive and get stronger.

Gods are, like what was said before, absolute beings. Their bodies and minds exist outside of the Plane of Existence. They are powerful, almost omnipotent beings that can do anything given they have the right amount of Arcus and they know how to do it. The separation of a god's existence in the Plane of Gods from the Plane of Existence is what kept them abusing the world thoroughly. What made them stronger is absorbing faith. That means more worshippers, more power.

Nemer doesn’t know all of those yet though. He also didn’t know that the radius of his perception from the altar was related to the amount of faith his worshippers currently have. Nemer only falsely believed that the basket has made the mist barrier get bigger.

Nemer was quite proud of himself for being able to successfully take, or ‘absorb’ rather, the tribute that kobold has given him. A little celebration is needed for this achievement! Nemer tried to fly more upwards to do a backflip, but something tugged him back. He stopped and turned back to see where the tugging came from. There was nothing.

“Oh right!”

Nemer quickly realized that he was still strongly connected to the altar below. He activated his [Arcus Vision] and immediately saw the long cord that connected him to the altar. It looked thin, probably from being stretched to it’s limit. Though how rubbery it looked, Nemer felt no tension before the cord finally tugged him. Not like it matters though.

He then started concentrating, only this time trying to ‘loosen’ up it’s connection to the altar. And it did. The cord became dimly lit and loose, almost hanging from Nemer. He then rubbed his hands together and did what he wanted to do; do a backflip.

And that’s what he precisely did. He shot up through the sky, then bent his body back abruptly to do a backflip. He then raised his arms, as if to show his success to the nonexistent judges. He felt happy, really happy. In his joy, he flew around blindlessly, until another feeling came to him. This one was familiar.

Nemer looked behind to see a certain kobold come out from the edge of the clearing. It was the same kobold as before, but as he ran towards the altar, he felt a dozen of tinglings and weird feelings all over his body in quick succession. He shivered.

“Brrhh… I need to get used to that.”

It seems like more people had come to his domain, kobolds rather. A dozen of kobolds followed suit after the orange kobold and appeared one by one from the edge of the clearing. The orange kobold seemed to have arrived to the altar and gestured the others to come. Leading the kobolds was two smaller kobolds, grey and brown, followed by a golden brown kobold of the same size with the orange kobold, and 9 others follow them with differing fur colors 3 meters behind.

“Oh? Are they going to pray too?”

He again went to the lowest branches of the tree, and waited patiently. The other kobolds finally arrive. The orange kobold from before started speaking to them in a language Nemer cannot understand. The others seemed to listen attentively, while Nemer himself struggled to at least understand a word the kobold was saying, because there were no sound. The kobold stopped talking, faced the altar, and kneeled down. He bowed his head and prayed.

O spirit, I request your presence. Please heed my call.

“Oh, right.”

Nemer forgot that the altar wouldn’t light up unless he was near it. He flew towards it, and the blue marks promptly light up. The other kobolds looked at the altar with awe, as their tails starts to wag. The kobold was still busy praying to notice what’s happening around him.

O spirit, enlighten these souls!

“Enlighten?”

Enlightening is rather hard to do for a moment. The god has very limited information on everything right now. Plus, he still doesn't know that his memories are fragmented. Therefore he couldn't find a way to enlighten them. He completely missed the fact that the kobold was meaning something else.

“How do I do that?”

Nemer thought for a while, letting the altar glow for a while. As he thinks, the other kobolds started gathering around the altar and kneel, intending to pray. Nemer noticed them and began to smi-

O spirit, lend me your strength!

Hey dude, nice meeting ya!

You there?

I entrust my life to you, O great spirit!

Spirit spirit of the forests, do you love large chests?

Is my dad your follower?

MUUUFFIIIIIINNN!!!

Nemer briefly went deaf from the last one. Was that even necessary? Actually, all of those prayers came into his head all at once, disorienting him. Other prayers then continued on in his head, making him even more disoriented. Some of them can’t even be considered prayers!

It took an unbelievably long 2 minutes before he had enough. It would only be a matter of time before the voices in his head turns him insane.

With only thinking of one way out, he immediately strengthened his link with the altar, and intended to shout his freaking mind out to them. How would he do that though? His proxy body didn’t have any mouth. Only his incorporeal body did.

“SHUT YOUR TRAAAAAAAAAAPS!”

All the kobold would immediately spring their head back up from the shock, some even stumbled behind to their backs. The markings glowed intensely, mirroring Nemer’s frustration about the current situation.

“Don’t freaking pray all at once with different intentions! Do you even know how painfully ear raping it is to hear a dozen of voices speak in your head at once? DO YOU?”

All the kobolds just kneeled and sat there in silence as the markings pulsate with every syllable spoken. They had innocent looks in their face. Of course they would, they didn’t know that their simultaneous prayers caused Nemer annoyance.

“And who the hell kept screaming muffins?”

A hand raised from the back. All the kobolds turned their head to the suspect, which was a young black furred kobold. He was only wearing blue shorts.

“Please, for the love of Wize, pray for something meaningful for once!”

Spirit, I humbly ask for forgiveness and muffins.

Nemer face palmed his incorporeal face. He grunted in annoyance as he crossed his arms. Of course, his is still not seen by the kobolds. As for how the kobolds could hear him, it was merely because of the telepathic link. He figured out that, if the kobolds can send a prayer to his head, then he can also speak to them through their heads.

He only needed to create a link from the altar to their heads. It was easier said than done though. Creating things were harder than taking. Nemer had to struggle quite a bit to reach the kobolds from the back, as it seems the link gets harder to create the farther they go from their source. Not only that, but also because the altar wasn't a living being. All was done with the help of [Arcus Vision]. Once they are connected to the altar, all he had to do now was shout.

After having calmed down, he observed the now silent kobolds. They were trying their best to not pray to upset Nemer further. They thought that he would wipe them out if they continued.

“Well, at least you are all in good hearts.” he said after a long sigh. “Just please keep in mind to not pray different things at me all at once. It’s just really disorienting and annoying.”

The kobolds nodded in agreement. They didn’t expect for Nemer to calm down this quick. These particular group of kobolds heard that spirits are generally hot-headed and would destroy anyone that annoys them. That would’ve been true if the prayers kept going, and if Nemer was just a spirit.

Nemer saw this as an opportunity to introduce itself. After all, what kind of god would have worshippers that doesn’t even know his name? It’s his purpose to become a greater god after all, and to become one, he must have a really big fanbase. Clearing his throat, he spoke in a proper and moderated voice.

“I am Nemer, the dweller of this stone. I am a god, a lesser god in fact, and I wish all of you would get along with me.”

From that sentence alone, he felt a surge of incredible power. He felt stronger than before, like he can turn someone inside out with a single snap. Unfortunately, he still can’t do that. The mist barrier also became even bigger, more than just centimeters. The radius became bigger by about 26 meters, a great boost compared to the 5 centimeters earlier.

Nemer then realized it, what made a god truly powerful; the faith of their worshippers. It’s almost cliche as those stories where the hero triumphs over the power of friendship. Although quite similar, there were differences. The first and most obvious reason is that faith powers the gods up both literally and figuratively. Second, the gods give blessings through worth, not love. The third and probably the last bit of important information, is that gods literally need worshippers.

And that’s what came into Nemer’s conclusion. He knew that he needed worshippers, but he never knew that worshippers would give him THAT much power, especially with only 13 kobolds! The truth appeared in his head that the basket did not give him any power at all. This made him slightly disappointed, since he thought of making the kobolds continuously offer him tributes. Oh well, truth’s the truth.

After accepting that fact, he found the orange kobold, the original visitor, had stood up. He then opened his mouth and spoke with a language Nemer could understand for the first time.

“H-hello, my lord. I am Barnon, this group of mine’s chief. I would like to humbly serve under you."

So now Nemer can understand him. What’s the deal? How he understand him is not important right now, but him saying that he technically accepted him as their god without questions was surprising. Were kobolds this gullible?

Nevertheless, he still gained a considerable amount of followers for a lesser god such as himself. Well, that considerable amount of followers made Nemer break the ‘The lesser god with the most followers’ record.

“Ermm… Just to make sure… Do you really accept me?”

“Of course!”

Barnon responded with an excited wag and a hanging tongue. Everybody else seemed to agree. They all agreed TOO wholeheartedly. It’s like they are dogs that have been begging to have an owner for a long time, which wasn’t that different on what’s currently happening.

Besides, domestic dogs needed good owners.