Adrian had always known this day would come.
His system had grown too large, too fast, and too influential to remain unchecked. The Divine School's reforms had legitimized his methods, but now the Bureau of Divine Integrity—the regulatory arm of the divine realm—had issued a formal audit.
It wasn't punishment.
It was protocol.
The audit team arrived in his cabin: three gods, each representing a core principle—Stability, Ethics, and Transparency. They didn't speak much. They simply activated their divine lenses and began reviewing the Internet's architecture.
Adrian had nothing to hide.
He opened the dashboard, exposing every metric: prayer flow, coin circulation, blessing distribution, app engagement, and user retention. He showed how the AI adapted to cultural norms, how feedback loops were tuned to avoid addiction, and how blessings were capped to prevent imbalance.
The auditors were thorough.
They tested edge cases—what happened when a user tried to exploit coin farming, when a guild attempted to monopolize a Shared iMonster, when a noble tried to override blessing limits for political gain.
Adrian's system held.
He had built safeguards—ethical throttles, community voting mechanisms, and divine override protocols that required consensus from the Internet Pantheon. Lucy and Zane had signed off on every major feature. Mortals had representation through the [Mortal Lab] council.
The auditors asked hard questions.
"Does your system create dependency?"
"Does it favor certain classes or regions?"
"Can it be weaponized?"
Adrian answered each with data, examples, and design philosophy.
"My goal isn't control," he said. "It's empowerment. The system rewards growth, not obedience."
After three days, the audit concluded.
The lead auditor, a quiet god named Virel, delivered the verdict.
"Your system is stable. Your ethics are sound. Your transparency exceeds divine norms."
He paused.
"But you've created something bigger than a god. You've created governance."
Adrian nodded.
"I know."
The Bureau issued its report: the Internet was officially classified as a Divine Infrastructure System, eligible for inter-realm deployment and mortal co-development. Adrian's status was upgraded to Infrastructure-Class Deity.
It was more than a title.
It was a license to scale.