(A/N) Someone mentioned that people would notice the lightning… yup, they certainly would!

Chapter 4

Elena sighed in relief as the day of Sanctum's final exams was finally finished. She had worked up a sweat as she and her fellow students spent the last part of the final after the initial paper exam beating the snot out of each other. It is a good thing that the combat portion was after the paper exam as Elena didn't think she would've been able to properly focus on it when she was exhausted from all of the fighting.

She hadn't been able to go to the altar these past two days ever since that attack by that huge Nevermore, and the intervention by Zeus, as her father insisted on keeping her ready and well-prepared for the combat portion of the exam. She prayed to Zeus that he would understand her absence, and did so every morning and evening. She didn't like not being able to pray at a proper place of worship and was seriously considering making a small shrine in her home to do so if she was ever again unable to go outside of Argus.

As Elena fanned herself and took a drink of water from a bottle one of her friends approached her.

"Elena!" her friend Lye Maize, a lion faunus with the expressing trait of lion ears, greeted her with a cheerful wave of her hand. Her duel sickles hung at the sides of her waist while her simple auto-pistol rested in its holster on the back of her belt.

Lye was pretty but tomboyish, which was partially reflected in the shorter brown hair she liked to keep since she hated having long hair. Elena waved back as the excitable girl rushed over to her.

"Haven't seen you in days! Where've you been?!"

"Sorry," Elena sheepishly replied. "Dad's been insisting on me training most of the time ever since I escaped from that Nevermore a few days ago."

"Wait wait wait wait," Lye held up a hand and then pointed it at Elena. "YOU were that thing's target? I've got so many questions to ask you!"

Elena looked a tad perplexed, "Like what?"

Lye rolled her eyes, "Uh, like how the hell did you manage to get so lucky that a huge bolt of lightning kills the thing out of nowhere?" She then pulls a notebook out of nowhere, "I mean, I don't think any of this is normal lightning anyway. I've been tracking the sightings of lightning for a while now and they always strike down in the west, rapidly too, and against the predicted weather forecasts. But, like, how? It's gotten a ton of people really confused and honestly, it's tingling my supernatural senses really hard and you know how much I love that stuff!"

Elena seemed to be fighting with herself about saying something. Then, after several seconds of contemplation, she came to a decision. One that would finally mean potentially helping the god she worshiped. But, if it didn't work out then she might be alienating a dear friend of hers. Then again, she had to at least try, right?

"Well, there is a reason for the lightning. I know I'm going to sound crazy but hear me out…" Elena started as she prepared to tell Lye about the god that saved her and who wants to save all of the people on Remnant.


I raised an eyebrow at the suddenly populated clearing of mine. Well, at least I think I raised an eyebrow. It certainly felt like I did but I didn't exactly think that I have a whole lot of defining features to speak of in my current spirit-like body.

Anyway, getting off track.

Elena had returned to the clearing after a couple of days away. She had still been praying to me but it always sounded a little distant, like a whisper that you could just barely hear. As far as I know, it had something to do with her final exams and her dad wanted her to stay in the city for them. As reasonable an explanation as there was.

When she came back it was with a small group of eleven other similarly aged people who were all unique in their own ways. It was a mix of six guys and five girls, not counting Elena, and while some seemed to have a bit of huntsman training most of them didn't. One of the more prominent people here was a lion faunus named Lye who seemed to be a good friend of Elena and had gone to Sanctum Academy with her.

"I… definitely felt something when I stepped into this place," Lye murmured, mostly to herself but the others also nodded their heads in agreement as they glanced around the place. "Like a jolt of electricity went up my spine."

"So, what's this all about?" One of the other people in the group asked. "You said something about the supernatural being real, Lye?"

Lye turned to the group and grinned widely, "Yes! And I will leave that explanation to Elena!"

"What?!" Elena turned and glared at Lye for putting her in the spotlight but the cheerful faunus girl refused to give in to it. After several moments of the glaring not getting through to her Elena seemed to finally give in and just sighed in exasperation, "Whatever."

Elena turned to face the rest, "Well, I guess I need to tell you all what happened the day this all started."

And so she did, and she was pretty good at recounting the details (well, the ones that I knew about anyway) and speaking about them in a way that was engaging to the audience. Even if I noticed a few odd embellishments or omen sightings that she attributed to me when she was back in Argus. Still, she did have the full attention of her audience in her grasp. Though, admittedly, I wasn't paying complete attention to the whole thing.

I was reasonably sure that the reason for some of those embellishments and talks of omens was the blessing that I gave to her but I wasn't about to explain that and ruin the experience. She was really getting into the whole storytelling thing and seemed to enjoy it in the moments I heard. Plus, maybe I was wrong and all of this was just the natural result of her realizing the presence of actual divinity.

"-and that is the reason for the weather around Argus. Lord Zeus wields absolute control over the Sky itself, and it is his interest in mortals and his hatred for the creatures of Grimm that will protect us all! He watches over us in our times of great need, just like the great bolt of lightning that saved me from the Nevermore a few days ago! No natural lightning forms and is so obviously directed with intent! No mere use of Dust can replicate the intensity and power of a god!"

Elena clenched her fist in front of her, "And that is why I want to give what aid I can. I know in my heart that a god such as Lord Zeus will aid humanity greatly. We just need to put our faith into him so that when he is ready he can strike down the Grimm with impunity and lead the world into a golden age of peace that we so desperately need!"

I clapped my ethereal hands and decided to give her a nice and dramatic lightning effect right as she finished her speech. Said lightning flashed above their heads, the sky had grown a little darker in anticipation of it happening so as to make it more noticeable. Thunder rumbled down after the flash and I used my control over the weather to make it resemble clapping.

Elena blushed a little in embarrassment while the rest startled and stared upwards in awe.

"So," one of the guys spoke up, "how do we do this, exactly?"


You have received 44 Faith Points!

(11 Prayer, 11 Conversion, 22 Sanctuary Bonus)

It was a nice collection of some much-needed Faith Points, courtesy of Elena's enhanced charisma. Elena continued to guide the other new converts in the ways of the faith that I've given to her so far. Right now she was talking about making offerings and explaining how to offer liquid offerings by pouring it over the altar or on the ground in front of it.

I'm not expecting a whole lot of physical offerings right off the bat, but hopefully, with more worshipers, they'll come in at a greater rate.

"What's with the stuff over behind the altar?" One of the newbies asked, pointing at the tarp covering the tools and other things for the future temple.

"It's for a small temple for Lord Zeus," Elena explained. "He instructed me through a dream to construct a modest one to aid him."

She looked a little embarrassed, "But… I'm not exactly a carpenter so I've been trying to look up making buildings on my scroll."

"Let's not do that," another one of the new converts said. "Making stable buildings is hard work. My brother is a carpenter and he's told me a lot of stories about people trying to make their own out in the smaller towns. He's often on loan to those small towns to help build structures if they don't already have their own carpenter. I could probably get him to come over and help since he doesn't have any contracts right now. He might give us a discount but we'll still need to pay him."

"Yeah, that's a good idea and all but we don't really have a whole lot of money for that even if we pooled all of our savings together," Lye added.

As my worshipers talked amongst themselves I hung back and floated in the air to think. I kind of forgot that normal people needed money to do things in the world. I think I might be getting a bit too forgetful of my past mortal life if I barely even considered the money problems of my cult. It wasn't exactly a state religion or anything so I couldn't really expect handouts and tax exemption yet.

There were ways for my temples to make their own money. Wine-making was going to be one of them for sure. Many of my temples were going to make their own wine and either use it themselves or sell it off. It was to ensure that my temples will always have a way to be able to maintain themselves and not rely on the inconsistency of handouts. Plus, since the product is most definitely going to be amazing, selling the wine would be a great way of spreading good words around about the cult.

But I don't think everyone was quite ready for that yet. I'm sure there are a lot of stupid mortal red tape laws and stuff to get through, can't exactly god-magic that away yet when I can't even reach city hall, and the age range of my worshipers wasn't of legal drinking age yet. At least, I think so. I don't know RWBY's drinking age and I didn't particularly care.

But, there might be a different angle we could use in that same vein.

Making wine itself was off the table, but selling the grapes should be just fine and it will even give them some much-needed experience for the future. Sure, there were differences between table grapes and wine grapes but in the face of a little god magic and determination that should be a complete write-off of a problem. These grapes that they will grow will be so good that they can eat and make wine from them!

As long as they are given enough care each previous day they will provide a crop of divinely delicious grapes every morning. If not, however, the grapes they grow will be wretched and disgusting. It will take many weeks of care to return the grapes to their previously delicious flavor with each week giving back more of the flavor at a time. They must also be planted on ground sacred to me, sanctuaries basically, lest the seeds instantly rot in the ground.

I looked down at the group, they were still discussing how to proceed. Well, I suppose it was time to give them a bit of a helping hand. I began by empowering myself with the Faith Points that I had just obtained, forty-seven in total, increasing my total power to a hundred and seventy-seven and dropping the collected points down to zero.

Then I pointed down at my altar and a pile of grape seeds formed on top of its surface. A small note was under the pile of seeds with "plant me" written on it in fancy cursive. I sent a small breeze towards the still-talking group which caught their attention and made them look around.

-150DP

It was pretty expensive to make those seeds, even more than making lightning javelins. Then again, they are very magical grape seeds.

Then Elena glanced at the altar and saw the pile of seeds and a note under the small pile. She held her hand up at the group and they went silent as she walked over to the altar. Well, if they had even a small amount of doubt about my existence then I'm certain that randomly appearing seeds would hopefully prove to them that I was, in fact, real.

"It's a sign," Elena said, holding a few seeds in her hands and turning back to the rest of the cult. "We will plant these to make ends meet. Argus allows its citizens to sell their own products that they grow in the farmers market as long as they have the right permit."

"Yeah, my mom and I have that permit," one of the girls spoke up, excitedly. "I could get our old cart stall, clean it up a bit, and we can use it to sell whatever it is that grows!"

"But, wouldn't it take a long time for something to grow?" another of the group asked.

Elena smiled at them, "Have a bit of faith. Lord Zeus wouldn't grant us this boon if it wouldn't help us." Then she eyed the clearing and hummed in thought, "Hmm, well I guess for now we can plant them off to the side. I think we have plenty of space for that."

I watched as they got to work on clearing and tilling the land, it was very boring to watch but I did find it endearing that they went at it with such enthusiasm. By the time they finally got to planting the seeds my divine power had long since recharged. As the group sat in the clearing, taking a break from all of the manual labor, I knew that it was my time to shine.

I waved my hand dramatically towards the sky, even if nobody could see me do it, and exerted my will upon it. Clouds soon formed over the clearing and a gentle rain fell down over the patch of the clearing they used for the grape seeds. Gasps and whispers rang across the clearing as the first of the seeds sprouted.

It was fascinating to watch the seeds I made with my divine magic work. First, the sprouts popped out of the ground and then they began to form the stem of the grapevine. But I knew that the vine couldn't support itself without doing so by spreading across the ground, which wasn't ideal. So, the vine stems grew thicker and formed their own sturdy trellis, upon which thinner vines sprouted and curled around their thicker brethren. Soon, the leaves and fruits of the vines formed and grew larger and more numerous, until they hung heavily on its thick support frames to await harvest.

Several baskets also appeared in front of the small vineyard as the rain died down.

-50DP

Making things grow faster was costly, but I think it helped that it was on sacred ground to me and using my own divinely-created plants.

Everyone in the clearing was stunned into silence, openly gawking at the grape vines. Elena seemed to be the most composed of the lot but even she was surprised. I guess it was one thing to hear and see lightning, have a dream about a god, or suddenly find something that wasn't there before but appeared when out of your sight. But it was something entirely else to witness plants growing so rapidly in front of your face after a sudden light rain shower and baskets to hold the product appear from thin air.

Elena stiltedly walked towards the vines, plucking a single grape from them and tentatively sticking it into her mouth. She chewed for a moment before her eyes widened and she groaned with pleasure. "By Zeus, these are the best grapes I've ever eaten…" she said softly, almost reaching for another to put in her mouth before she forcefully stopped herself and instead turned to the crowd.

"Everyone, come take a few and try them," she said. Quickly, they rushed over to her and she began handing out several grapes to their waiting hands. One by one each of the cultists popped a grape in their mouth, expressing joy and satisfaction once the taste hit their tongue.

"Lord Zeus has blessed us with something most divine. A vineyard of sacred grapevines for us to cultivate," Elena started, and I noticed that she was getting more and more used to speaking in her new role. "These grapes will grow quickly and provide for us, so let us show our appreciation by tending to them every day. Let us show our appreciation by praying to Lord Zeus every day. And let us show our appreciation by offering the first harvest of every week to him in thanks!"

Well, I wasn't expecting that. But, I wasn't going to tell them no!

My worshipers grabbed a basket each and set to work harvesting the grapes from the vines. It was close to evening now so the vines will only produce the next harvest the following morning. Once the last of the grapes were collected everyone placed their full basket on or next to the altar as Elena took up position in front of it while the others kneeled down.

Elena raised her hands up, "Lord Zeus, Master of the Sky, and King of the Heavens! We, your humble servants offer to you this first harvest of your sacred grapevines as thanks. We pray that you will continue to guide and protect us from the creatures of Grimm! So please, accept this offering of ours to you!"

You have received 80 Offering Points!

(1 Large Offering of Fruit [40pts], 40 Sanctuary Bonus)

Now that was something spicy, a really nice investment on my part. I greedily took all of those points in and empowered myself with them, leaving only the original six I was saving for something else. The grapes on the altar vanished, disappearing in a way that almost seemed like they turned into smoke. What it looked like didn't matter much to me, not when my power jumped up again today. Now it went from one hundred and seventy-seven all the way up to two hundred and fifty-seven.

Already I felt so much better than I did when I first became aware in this new world. I watched my little worshipers do some last-minute duties around the clearing as the day slowly winds down to an end before they return home. If they were going to be this generous to me then I can do them the occasional favor as well, perhaps by making a basic dirt road so that they can drive more easily to the clearing. I've noticed that they have to leave their car behind because it couldn't fit through the denser sections of the forest.

Well, something for later. At any rate, I was already seeing the benefits of having more followers and I couldn't wait for more. For now, I'll give Elena another divine inspiration so she knows what to do with the grape vines to not ruin them. Then, with their money problem over and their group a little expanded, I'll just have to hang back and gather power while they also grow in size.