“For there is only the Almighty System!” XLR8 shouted to the people gathered in the church.

“Praise be!” everyone else shouted back.

“The ten stats shall guide us to the future. Let us not look back into the past but into the future and accept the guidance of the Almighty System!”

“Praise be!”

“Now some words from the one true leader of the Power Church, Emperor Michael,” XLR8 said and I stepped up to look at the crowd of hopeful faces.

“People of Purgatory. It is my honor to be here today away from the front lines,” I said and there were massive cheers at this. I wasn’t honored and this entire thing was a farce, but people wanted to see their spiritual and political leader.

“The challenges we face out there, are not small. The monsters only get stronger. Your faith and hard work, will help see us into the future. Many of the lessons I have learned from the Almighty System itself, I have imparted to the high priest XLR8,” there were cheering at this.

I spoke for another two minutes, before XLR8 took back over and moved to a hymn, followed by a short lesson on the Body stat. It wasn’t anything exciting, but for the people here, my presence was a big confirmation that I was supporting the power church.

Once the service was over, I went with XLR8 into one of the back rooms. “Mid-deek service?” I asked him as I sat down.

“A special service since you were in town and I was back as well,” XLR8 collapsed in a chair across from me.

“Numbers are up?” I asked.

“No new poll for a while, but by word of mouth from my priests in the various cities, yes. It is going to take time to convert people to make them ardent supporters. While we are in every city, it is only the easily swayed and brownnosers that convert. Very little people from other religions,” XLR8 explained.

“That is to be expected. The couple of times I have caught your radio broadcast recently, you have been doing a good job,” I said.

“If we had video displays, then it would be better. As it is, setting up branches of the Power Church in other cities, I have had to wrangle some questions on doctrine,” he replied.

“Anything I need to weigh in on?” I asked.

“No, just people wanting answers to pointless questions. Like how we should treat other religions. Does Earth still exist? Are we for one political party or another?”

“There are political parties?” I asked with concern.

“Earth political parties and the official stance is absolute support for you and Imperialism,” XLR8 said.

“Well, I can’t object to that. No violence?” I asked.

“No. At least it is directed against monsters and people not of the Empire. Thankfully no violence against us either. Without your support, this wouldn’t be going anywhere,” he explained.

“That is expected. We can’t allow people’s past allegiances to drag us down. I stopped by here for a second reason. Airships will be transporting people West in the future. No taxes out there, but no government, to manage the population crisis. In time there will be a portal building set up,” I said.

“And you want me to encourage this?” XLR8 asked me.

“If people are looking for opportunities or are trouble makers, then yes. No speaking against traveling, and slight encouragement. I expect the death toll to be quite high. But there is no need to mention that. Perhaps, fighting other nations before they take all the crystals,” I explained.

“I can use the Power Church to help like minded people come togeather. That is one of the services we are offering,” XLR8 said.

“Then I trust you will be capable of managing the message. Hopeful, but don’t fully endorse, and highlight that with the risk comes opportunity. I want to reduce blowback in the future when people die,” I explained.

“Will do. Anything else?” XLR8 asked me.

“No, unless you have any suggestions?” I asked.

“It is taking time to get everything arranged, so don’t expect anything to change rapidly. The real challenge is bringing in new people and converting people who have been around for a while. That is why I am focusing on community building to provide side value,” XLR8 said.

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“Such as?” I asked.

“Senior grinders giving talks about things that work well for them. Arranging groups like I mentioned earlier. Arranging for a pathway for low level grinders to be mentored and taken in by higher level grinders. Nothing with the government and hiring, since you made that clear,” XLR8 said and I nodded at this.

Religion was useful, but I wanted the population to be believers, not government workers. That could lead to long-term issues. I merely wanted to offset any attempts at religion and social manipulation at the lower levels of society.

“For the most part everything is running fairly smoothly. Just need to manage the message and make sure no one goes off brand,” XLR8 explained.

“You seem to be handling things quite well. I am glad you are back in the city. All cities have sermons every day?” I asked.

“Yes. With full time priests, there are two sermons every day. They are repeated on a ten-day schedule. So, while attendance can be low, it also spreads things out to make the services more manageable. The big ones tend to be the morning of the arrivals, which is when we start having new sermons,” XLR8 said.

I tapped my armrest as I thought over everything I had seen. “Donations?” I asked.

“Very little. We don’t encourage donations, and the ones we do get are carefully tracked. For the most part you are funding everything,” he explained.

“Good, the Power Church isn’t about making a profit, but fulfilling a spiritual need. The number of points coming through would be small regardless and better people strengthen themselves. Good job building up connections between groups. Better than the bars and other social clubs,” I said.

“That is what we are trying to set ourselves up as. The next expansion is to have temporary housing at a cheap price for grinders who want to save money while visiting the city. Like a hostel. For people who want to avoid overindulging and having a safe place to sleep. They can stay for free if they talk about stuff they learned during a sermon,” XLR8 explained.

“You are doing quite a good job in your position,” I said.

“It is just having a message and brand awareness, with a side of community events. More in person than I am used to, but I have a small staff to help manage things,” he explained.

“Well, that is all from me, keep up the good work,” I said.

“Will do,” XRL8 added, and I left the Power Church. Hiring him was one of my best ideas. The man was a natural speaker, which drew people in, and he had a good sense of how to manage the brand. I had no doubt it was easy mode with my support, but he was still maximizing the opportunities he had in front of him.

There was just a lot of my wealth being spent all over the place. Perhaps I was funding too many projects? I considered that issue but decided that it was fine for now. In a 1,000 or so days I would review the progress of the Power Church in a much more in-depth manner and look at their expenses versus income.

For now, it was fine to keep up my current level of expenditure. A full audit did sound like a good idea for everything I was paying out on though, in the future. With the park I was going to fund, the Power Church, and my staff, it was important not to let things get out of control and have waste, and there might be trimming.

I didn’t want donations to be the primary source of income for the Power Church, since that could lead to the priests doing unsavory things, in terms of begging people. But there would be more donations and I could reduce the amount I spent on the Power Church in the future to help control their budget from becoming bloated.

XLR8 needed more time to get things under control, but he was doing reasonably well so far in my opinion. No need to rock the boat as he increased the number of converts. There would be more polling in the future to check on the number of converts.

Realistically, I wanted to go up from the 11% it was around now, to about 30%. Also increasing brand awareness to over 90% in terms of people knowing about the message of the Power Church. That felt like a solid long-term goal.

Leaving the Power Church, my next stop was the plaza. There was someone that I wanted to see if she had changed her tune besides portents of doom. She still had her mind, occasionally. I wanted to see what nonsense she would say today.

I made my way to where she was chained in the center of the city, just a short distance from the pillars. The people in the lines looked at her, but I got much more of a reaction. I had one of the guards at the pillars bring over a small amount water and food, having them set on the table in front of her. She began to eat and drink.

“Avatar, how are you doing?” I asked while strengthening the energy around my head. Her communication attempt failed, and I smiled. “I can block you now.” I lowered my defenses slightly.

“Hooray for you. A shame you didn’t kill me,” the Avatar said.

“It would have been a waste. Anything new to tell me?” I asked.

“I hate you,” she rasped out. Even with her tongue missing she could still speak. “Your time grows shorter,” she said.

“You are like a climate person, constantly predicting doom, that never shows up. Then when something happens you will claim credit,” I said while shaking my head. “Is there anything you are able to trade me, for leniency?” I asked.

“No. Leave me be,” she said. I just smiled and left her. She was miserable having to do endless paperwork, but she was still there. No matter what she screamed or said, the Almighty System was not about to let her die, even from suicide.

Maybe it had been a mistake to speak to her and give her some hope, but it was amusing and brought me joy to see her suffering. The fact that she ranted less than previous times indicated to me that she felt she was no longer as confident as before. Each day that I got stronger, her predictions of doom mattered less.

Perhaps I should free her into the West? But I quickly squashed that idea. If she was free, she would make trouble somehow. My current efforts were working quite well in neutralizing her. Kindness was a weakness I could not afford with someone like the Avatar. She was pure evil and had tried to kill me.

I would never underestimate her. If she was more useful, I might go easier, but she was content to make things as difficult as possible for herself. At least no one had tried to free her. The Power Church used her as a warning to people who thought themselves above me in any way. Even if you couldn’t be killed there were fates worth than death.

It was a good warning to the people of my capital and Empire. Her chained up, was more a symbol of my power than anything else. I only had chains, since I had no doubt, she would find a way to escape otherwise. She was slippery like that.