Things escalated quickly, from a hundred of cultists, they were now thousands.
The cursed legion was growing at an alarming rate and the new legion was recruiting as easily. What was seen as a strange club by the people was now growing in a real cult. They were all around the world.
The biggest group was in the USA without surprise but they could be found everywhere: Russia, France, Australia… No one was taking them seriously as most of what they believed was based on a game but these groups were displaying something only seen in the early development of a religion, zealous belief in the creator power.
The core tenet of their cult was "the creator punishes but the creator rewards". They are certain that all the bad side effects of the game are a test of faith. The cursed legion even more so as their strength keep growing as much as the voice in their head. They see it as some sort of test of faith
Most people with common sense would think that the blessing did not come from him but gods from his game but those same cultists explained it as a representation of his powers. As if he was so much above them, he needed to dumb it down for other to believe.
One could not really blame them. For once in the history of mankind, belief was rewarded and those rewards were tangible.
How can you convince someone that gained the ability to predict the future or transform as a werewolf to stop believing in someone that gave them said power. After all, it was easier to help yourself when you could transform in a monster that healed itself and had enough strength to fight ten men.
Already, some people were speculating on the next update and why the creator was so silent. Usually, he would make minor update on the game but nowadays, he would do so rarely.
Some said he was working on something big, others believed he was observing and judging and most of the rest were just happy he did not give up the game.
Still, SHIELD was benefiting a lot from the game. Their work was easier, they lost less agents from missions and some dangerous projects were stopped thank to it. That's not even talking about the new area of study opened thank to those powers.
A lot of the scientist went head first in those new opportunity. Projecting consciousness, transformation as a werewolf or blasting enemies with psychic powers and so much more were now available to humanity. They had to know why and how.
For now, the only fact they had was about "faith". The powers were getting stronger if one had faith in the god granting said power or the creator. They had conclusive evidences about it and the cults were proving everyday such fact.
It downed on Fury that such thing was helping the cult immensely.