A week later, Laia was sitting on the golden throne in the Supreme Palace, eating a cheese sandwich, staring at her realm panel. It had been a week since she became the Supreme Overgod, and the pings hadn't stopped. More refugees, more tax, more resources, every single day. She'd already made more money in that week than she'd made in her entire life working night shifts at the tavern.
She blinked, staring at the number in her bank account. Wait... she had enough money to buy a thousand planets. She could retire right now, and never work again. But... the overlords kept bringing her new places to clear, new people to help. And they paid so well! Why would she quit?
Just as she thought that, the overlords teleported in, grinning, covered in a little stardust from their trip. "We're back! We cleared all the rest of the Void galaxies! Brought all the refugees there, 2 billion more people! They all want to join the realm, said they heard we have the best god around!"
Laia's eyes went wide. 2 billion more? That meant 2 billion more people paying tax every month! She nodded, grinning so wide her cheeks hurt. "Wow! That's amazing! Great job, guys!" Her panel pinged again, the numbers jumping up even more. She was gonna be so rich.
Just then, the sky shook, and a tall, glowing man appeared, floating in the air. He was a Higher God, from the higher dimensions, the ones no one in the pantheon had ever even dared to talk to before. He stared at Laia, then bowed deeply, so deep his head almost touched the ground. "Laia Hayes. I have heard of your deeds. You cleared the Chaos Sea, defeated the Void Emperor, gathered all the overlords of the races. I am the God of the Third Dimension. I want to join you. I will pay you tax, I will follow you, anything. Just let me join your realm. I don't want to be on the wrong side of you."
Laia blinked. Wow, another new follower? That was nice. She nodded, grinning. "Sure! Welcome to the realm!" The Higher God let out a huge sigh of relief, bowing again. "Thank you! Thank you so much! I knew you'd accept!"
Before Laia could say anything else, more and more glowing figures appeared, one after another, pouring out of the sky. The God of the Fourth Dimension, the God of the Fifth, the God of Time, the God of Space, all of them, bowing to Laia, saying they wanted to join, they wanted to be her followers, they wanted to pay her tax. They'd all heard the stories, spreading across the multiverse: the hidden Overgod who'd collected all the overlords, who'd cleared the Chaos Sea, who'd defeated the Void Emperor in five seconds. They didn't want to fight her. They wanted to join her, to be safe, to be under her protection.
Laia stared at them, her eyes wide. Wow, that was a lot of new followers. That meant a lot of new tax. She nodded, grinning. "Sure! All of you can join! Welcome!" Her panel pinged so fast it almost exploded. New population: 10 billion more followers! Realm size increased by the entire higher dimensions! Productivity increased by another 1000000%!
The overlords perked up, staring at the Higher Gods, their eyes going bright. "Wait, there are more dimensions? And there are those dimension monsters there, right? The ones that have been threatening the higher dimensions for millions of years? We can go clear them! Bring all the refugees there! Protect the Overgod for good!"
Kane nodded, already pulling up his new schematics for inter-dimensional starships on his wrist. "Right! We can build inter-dimensional portals! Go to all the dimensions! Clear all the monsters! Make sure the Overgod is safe forever, no matter what!"
Laia grinned, doing the math in her head. More dimensions? More refugees? More tax?
Wow.
She'd started this, just wanting enough money to pay her academy tuition, so she could stop scrubbing mugs at the tavern.
Now she was gonna be the god of the entire multiverse.
And she was gonna be so, so rich.