With nothing important left to do, I decided to have a look at the chat to see if anything interesting had happened. Unsurprisingly, people were still outraged over the fact that only the top ten got rewards, especially those who had managed to win all ten battles but still didn't make it into the top ranks. The messages just kept flooding in, each one angrier than the last. Some were complaining that the system was unfair, others were demanding explanations, and a few were even trying to rally others into filing some sort of collective protest as if the system would ever listen to them.
The longer I scrolled, the more ridiculous things got. A few people were even claiming that the top ten must have cheated, that there was no way anyone could have advanced that fasy without exploiting something. Others started speculating about hidden requirements, secret rankings, or even "favoritism" from the gods. It was chaos, pure and simple the kind of chaos you'd expect when billions of egos got crushed at once.
But buried beneath all that noise, I eventually noticed something different a flood of messages centered on one name: Nova. Apparently, he had gone and revealed all of his rewards from the competition not long after it ended. Judging by the timestamps, he did it barely fifteen minutes after the results were announced.
I couldn't help but stare at the screen for a moment, utterly dumbfounded. Was he serious? Who in their right mind would just hand out that kind of information? Especially in a world where everyone was both a potential ally and a potential enemy. Revealing your abilities was like painting a massive target on your back it was the kind of rookie mistake no one should ever make.
And it wasn't even hearsay or boasting; Nova had actually posted screenshots of his system interface. Every talent, every reward, every detail laid out for the world to see. No wonder the chat was going wild everyone now knew exactly what kind of power he possessed.
When he had done this previously, I already thought that it was dumb, but the talent information of his two talents wasn't that important if other people knew. But this time he had released information about everything. This meant that he told everyone about his nee talent, new artefact and even the question he asked the system. He truly would do anything just to be more popular.
With a sigh, I continued scrolling, piecing together what Nova had gotten based on the countless fragments of discussion and speculation filling the chat. After all if he was gonna give this info away for free i may as well use it to my advantage.
After what felt like hours of scrolling through the endless wall of text, speculation, and wild theories, I finally had a decent idea of what Nova had received for coming first. It was hard to separate fact from fiction at first so many people were making claims just to sound important but after piecing together the more consistent information and the screenshots people had saved, I managed to form a clear picture.
First came the artifact that he had obtained for comming first place.
[Name: All Hearing Earrings (B)
Effect: The wearer of these earrings can hear the inner voice of those around them. They can also be used to determine if someone is being truthful or not.]
[Note 1: These can either be given to an organism on the god's planet or can be worn by the god themselves.]
[Note 2: The range of the effect is determined by the power of the one wearing them.]
When I read the effect, I couldn't help but subconsciously compare it to my own B-ranked artifact, the Staff of Knowledge. And honestly, the two didn't even seem close in terms of utility. Sure, the earrings could let you hear what others were really thinking, which was useful for manipulation or strategy, but the staff had far greater potential in the long run. My artifact could store, transfer, and grant knowledge itself the foundation of progress and power. The more I thought about it, the more curious I became about how the system actually ranked these artifacts. Was it based purely on power or where there others factors that came into play.
Knowing that I wasn't going to get answers anytime soon, I sighed and moved on to the next reward Nova had apparently gotten.
[Talent Name: Divine Decree (B)
Talent Effect: Once per day you can create a message that will be heard by every being on your planet.]
[Note 1: The message will automatically be transformed into the language of the organisms.]
At first glance, it looked simple almost unimpressive but the more I thought about it, the more dangerous it seemed. Once Nova's organisms developed intelligence, he could use that talent to shape their beliefs, influence their behavior, and quite literally become the voice of their world. With just one command, he could create entire religions centered around himself. It was terrifyingly efficient for establishing control and collecting divinity faster than anyone else.
Finally came the last of his rewards a chance to ask the system a single question. Oddly enough, this was the only thing Nova hadn't shown proof of. Instead of a screenshot, he had simply typed out what he claimed the question and answer were, meaning it could easily have been fabricated. Still, curiosity got the better of me.
According to him, the question he asked was:
"Why were we made gods?"
It seemed uncharacteristic of Nova I never took him for the philosophical type, i thought he would ask something liek the quickest way to get stronger or something in that area but apparently not. To his question the system had responded with:
[The reason why the human species from Earth were turned into gods is to combat the invasion of gods from other universes.]
Reading that, I felt more confused than enlightened. It raised far more questions than it answered. Who were these invading gods? Why was humanity chosen of all species? And if every human was turned into a god, what happened to the infants, the elderly, or the dying? Were they given worlds too? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this revelation didn't solve anything it only deepened the mystery.