Turning around, he saw the other two. Taaia could be seen just floating there, and beside her was the giant cat; it too just stood. Richard guessed that they were also in the process of selecting their patrons.
It stood to reason that more gods would show interest in them, so they should see a lot more patrons to choose from. He could swear to anything that he wasn't that interesting to these gods.
Taaia was smarter and way more knowledgeable than he was, so any sensible, knowledgeable being would pick it over him. As for physicality, any god who chose him was just straight-up dumb in that aspect.
He would want to believe the standard lie that humanity told each other to strike their pride. Many creatures were better at adaptation than humans, and worse, they weren't even sentient.
Seeing that they were still busy selecting, Richard decided to simply go ahead. Waiting would not help him in any way. Before him was what looked like a door.
It glowed golden, and even he could tell that it was a portal, but it was designed in a rectangular manner, which made it look like a door. With a soft sigh, Richard took a deep breath and entered the portal.
Passing through the door, he arrived inside a grand hall, a large and seemingly empty space. Everything was just white, but before him was a simple red carpet.
The carpet went on forever before him and was put in place for him to follow. Despite being sceptical at first, Richard decided to walk down the red carpet.
He walked for what seemed like hours but saw nothing. At some point, Richard began to wonder if he was just walking around in circles. It was ridiculous how big this space was.
If the red carpet continued for infinity, then he definitely couldn't continue walking. He was badly injured, and that injury had yet to be attended to at all.
"Hello!!" he shouted, hoping to gain the attention of anyone within the space.
"Hello!!" he continued shouting as he moved forward.
"How are you this small?" a new voice said, and Richard immediately began searching for its source.
Normally, he would try to prepare for a fight, but it was painfully clear that whoever owned the voice was not someone he could beat.
"Those idiots didn't implement the changes I made," the voice said in clear frustration.
It seemed that there existed some form of hostility between the voice and the outside world.
"Never mind. What is your name, son?" the voice suddenly asked.
"Richard Nnaji, sir," Richard answered.
"Okay then, Richard. It has been exactly a million cycles, 307 billion, and 62 years since anyone has ever considered me a god. What is up with you?" the voice asked.
As soon as the voice fell silent, Richard felt as if something changed, and soon, he saw what looked like shelves slowly fade into existence.
He was surrounded by them. There were thousands of them, at least millions, and they stretched on for several kilometres and seemed to have no end.
There were shelves as far as the eye could see, and on each of those shelves were books that gave him the feeling of possessing infinite wisdom within their pages.
This was it.
"Why ask when you already know?"
"Formality," the voice replied.
"I value knowledge, and none is more knowledgeable than the one who has recorded all there is to know in the entire universe. You are the Akashic Record," Richard answered as he gave a bow.
"Hahaha!!!" A loud, booming laughter filled the entire space.
Richard didn't know if he had said anything wrong or not. He had stated it exactly as it was for him.
He had seen the name "Akashic Record" as he was scrolling through the names of Patron Gods.
His first thought had been that it was just a library that all the gods should have access to. Then it dawned on him: its name was on the list of gods… Not just any set of gods, though.
It was listed as an Elder Primordial, whatever that meant. There were many others within that list, but the Record was the only one he recognized.
Being listed as a god meant that after billions of years of existence, it had gained consciousness.
That would mean that this consciousness was essentially omniscient and even possibly omnipotent.
The Record itself is commonly known to have come into existence long before time began, and even if the consciousness is new, the power residing within it would be on a whole new level.
"You do know I can hear those thoughts, right?" the voice suddenly said.
"I'm sorry."
"You interest me, young one... You are not particularly smart, nor are you the most imaginative, but you are wise. I can appreciate that," the voice said, which made Richard smile immediately.
"Thank you, sir," Richard replied before raising his head.
"Follow me. Let's get this all over with… it's not like I have much of a choice to make here," the voice said before Richard saw some apparition appear before him.
"I am not an apparition; this is a spirit clone meant to guide you for now," the Akashic Record replied.
The spirit clone led him through the red carpet and onto the shelves. Richard made sure to stay close in order not to get lost.
While they walked, Richard wondered if there truly was even a difference between what was in front of him and an apparition. Both were immaterial beings, so he didn't understand why the voice seemed to have taken offence at that.
After a while of walking, they finally arrived at their destination. Before them was a large opening that was still surrounded by shelves. It seemed to hold a large pond in the middle of the entire thing.
"What is this?" Richard asked.
"Your acceptance ritual. Now get in," the apparition said.
"Wait, that means you are now my patron?"
"Yes, that's what that means."
"Thank you," Richard shouted before immediately rushing into the pond.
Pulling off his clothes without much thought, Richard jumped into the water. It wasn't until he was already deep in the water that he began to wonder what the water was made from.
"It's holy water. Stop worrying unnecessarily," he heard the voice within his mind.
"I should get used to the mind talk, right?" Richard asked mentally.
"If you can," the voice replied.