As the shadow obscuring the sun became bigger and bigger in his vision, Vol reminisced about his life, scenes succeeding each other at lightning speed in his mind. That particular event lasted about... A fraction of a second.
He was quite young after all, standing at 15 and soon to be 16. There wasn't much to see, nor was there much that was worth remembering.
So there he stood, awkwardly awaiting his death and with nothing to do. Still in that slowed down perception that was the state of having his life flashing before his eyes, but with nothing to see.
Maybe if he tried to say something, the spell would be broken? That was worth a try at least, he was becoming to become bored.
So, with all the eloquence of someone trying to deading himself quicker. He opened his mouth and said. "Uuuuh-"
*SPLAT*
And so did Vol meet his end, secretely full of unwillingness and sadness.
Also anger, plenty of anger.
—————
"FUCK! FUCK... THAT WHAT'S I WANTED TO SAY!" Vol raged, he didn't meant for his last word to be so embarassing and lame. But his brain hadn't made the connection that it would indeed be his last word at the time.
"Wait, I can talk." Quickly catching up on the fact he could still talk, Vol forrowed his brows and focused on what was around him.
He currently stood on an infinite field of white clouds, with his body seemingly whole and intact, though his glasses were gone, it strangely didn't seems to affect his eyesight. Directly before him was a short stairway leading to a Gate, yes, Gate with a G. Because the structure before him was nothing short of godly, formed from a shining material exhuding colors going from gold to dark blue seemingly extending from horizon to horizon. And with an height he couldn't see the top off.
In the middle of the gate, gigantic glowing letters he could somehow all picture in brain despite not seeing them with his physical eyes formed a single word: ASCENSION.
"What the..." His jaws falling open and his eyes opening wide, he struggled to acknowledge the sight before him as reality or something other than an illusion so much it was incomprehensible.
After picking up his mouth from the floor, he mused aloud. "Is this the gate to heaven? AM I in heaven right now?" He asked himself afterward, thinking that it was a very plausible explanation since you know... He was supposed to have been made unalive by a meteor truck a moment earlier.
Unfortunately, the appearance of a screen with written word on it before his eyes forced him to throw his guess in the trash.
[Welcome, Candidate#78340!
You currently stand before the gate of Ascension, an epic game of divine proportion designed by various godly figures to shed off bor- to offer the chance to mortals such as yourself a chance at joining the ranks of the truly great.
You have been scouted as a possible player in this game, step up the nine steps before you. Place your hands upon the gate, and enter Ascension, where true glory, power and freedom is put within your reach!
Of course, everything has a price. Thrice is the number of prices for the opportunity offered to thee.
1- You have to play the game, and by its rules.
2- Death is a very real possibility in the game, be it against other players or during missions. Such is the bare minimum to attempt the climb of Ascension.
3- The player has to choose at least one initial patron among the list provided when integrating into the game.
Of course, refusal of entering the game at all is possible. However, be warned, upon doing so, you will be put through the natural process that occur after death in your original universe.]
"Well, I'd be damned." Vol muttered, a bit dazed after the explanation. After clearing his head and rereading the messages another time, he snorted.
"The possibility of becoming a god against getting into an unknown and possibly shitty afterlife? No thanks, I'm going with the somewhat sus offer anyday of the week." He knew his hand was obviously being forced, but he didn't really care.
He was just happy to be alive, honestly. Though he would be lying if he said he wasn't a bit excited about possibly getting to know why he was so different from everyone else back home.
So, totally not daydreaming about going back to his world one day and drowning his parent in divine piss. He stepped up the somewhat ordinary, if very clean marble stairs and arrived before the gate. Then he placed his right hand against it, and vanished.
—————
Popping into existence stanfing in the middle of a round but strangely cozy looking room. Vol barely had the time to react to the feeling of having his being changed on a fundamental aspect that a floating screen assaulted him with scrolling texts and a prick of pain going from the base of his spine to his eyes made itself known.
[Beginning system initialization on candidate...
Special trait detected, referencing database...
Unique trait with magical roots detected! Deconstructing basic components...
-Kaleidoscopic eyes of magical creation (Lightning)
-Lightning affinity (Extreme/specific -> otherwise high)
-Light spectrum affinity (Extreme/specific -> otherwise high)
- Radiation affinity (high)
Classifying trait...
Trait registered and name given...
Determining attributes...
Determining skills...
No skills detected.
Finalizing status...
Status created
Status of: Player#3145
Layer: 1st
Patron: N/A
Bloodline:N/A
Trait: {Kaleidoscopic lightning}
ATTRIBUTES—
Strength: 2
Agility: 3
Endurance:1
Spirit:11
Mystic: 14
SKILLS—
N/A
This is your status, player#3145, the representation of your inner and outside self in Ascension. You can access it anytime, simply by thinking about status in your head. Needed informations in the system may be accessed in the same way.
You can also change your username anytime by following the same proccessus.
Now, before proceeding further. Please select a patron among the list provided. Patron may influence your missions, your bloodline, as well as give you certain benefits through the granting of blessings.]
Immediatly, a list popped in front of him, describing deities of all kind, their name as well as their domains, and the possible benefits they provided. It also neatly resumed what their personalized missions generally entail and what they demand of their player.
Logically, he knew he should feel overwhelmed. But besides the actual amount of informations he had to memorize and understand about his status and several aspects of the games or system. He felt pretty calm.
He also was curious about the unique trait that was mentioned he possesed, but he shelved it for later along with everything else to focus on the current task at hand before doing anything else.
Contrary to his thoughts, the list was not very long. In fact, it had only 15 gods and goddesses available.
Though he lacked informations, he remembered the fact he was selectioning a patron right now. So it was likely the list represented all those who were actually interested in sponsorising him.
His deduction was confirmed in a strange manner as another option appeared on the list, bringing his total to 16. What convinced him that he was correct was the fact the new god of the list was actually a god with intelligence as a domain.
[ Player#3145 is correct in their assumptions. Patron are the one who decide if they want a player to possibly represent them or not. While the players are the one who get to refuse or not an offer.]
Furrowing his brows, the boy called out. "Firstly, can I have my username changed to Vol?"
[Change registered.]
"Good, now uh... I guess asking you if you can read my mind is a dumb question.." Mumbling to himself, he nodded. "Why did you answer only after I made my guess and not before when I was wondering about it?"
[Gods can have a certain influence on the system. Creating prompt is not out of their power if it is within the bound of their respective authority. However, they cannot choose to abstain information from players if said players are eligible for it, they can only give.]
"Interesting." After hesitating for a bit, he shrugged, figuring that asking couldn't hurt. "Concerning choosing a patron, do you have any advices or recommendations for me?"
[Neutrality shall be maintained by the system concerning the selection of patrons. However, personality, powers and personal wishes are the reccommended factors to use to determine an
initial patron.]
"I see, since that's the case then..." Though he still had many questions, he shelved them for now and after a while reviewing his options, narrowed the possibility to four gods he had a personal interest in.
Omega, a goddess?/cosmic being with a main domain of Magic, and lesser authorities over mystery and Research. Not much informations was actually known about her. Which kind of made sense, but not at the same time. Did gods design their bios themselves?
Estria, a goddess?/foreigner? He really had no idea with this one as the sent3nce used to describe her is: a being coming from 'elsewhere'. But she was apparently pretty powerful, whatever that meant in a context where divine beings were concerned. She had presidence over Love, Beauty, Reflections and Perception. With only the last one described as 'lesser'.
Andariel, a goddess/demonic being with a domain over lust, seduction and cunning, with the last one being 'lesser'. She was basically a succubus with divine might from her description. It seemed that despite that, she wasn't really evil.
Finally, there was Sord. God of Might as his main deal, and domination and battle as lesser. For this one, he didn't really know why he had an interest in him. But he wasn't gonna complain.
However, after coming to this point. Vol had no idea which one to choose, he wanted them all. So, almost innocently, he asked the system. "Is it possible to get these four as my initial patron?"
As soon as he finished his words, a tangible cold feeling spread through him and his own body seemingly become heavier. So much that it became hard to breathe.
Unlike every other times he has asked a question to the system, it took several seconds before he got an answer.
[Player Vol, do you allow your four potential patrons to inspect you more thoroughly?]
He couldn't help but swallow his saliva, repressing goosebump as he replied uneasily. "I mean, how thoroughly are we talking about her-"
[DO, YOU, ALLOW, IT?]
"Yes!" He cried out as the words hammered the inside of his skull, realising he had potentially commited a social faux-pas. In this case a divine scale one.
As soon as he accepted, he felt intense tingles spreading through his body. Particularly inside his eyes inside his head, which was concerning, since you know. There were no nerves in the brain.
It itched like hell, and made him want to scratch his eyeballs out. fortunately, the feeling vanished after a few seconds.
[Player Vol, your proposal was agreed upon by the four concerned deities. But only on the condition that four trials of different nature will be provided on your introductory mission, failure in a designated trial would occur the lost of the corresponding sponsor. And that you may not get the endorsing of any other deities going forward, until the time of your ultimely death or victory over the game. Do you accept those two conditions?]
He frowned, he wasn't sure exactly what those 'trials' entailed, or even what a mission really was. Nor did he know if it was really good idea to become exclusive to his initial patrons. Maybe four patrons would be a lot for a very long time, or it could fall off behind very quickly for many reasons he wasn't aware about. Only, from the extreme reaction he got and the 'thorough inspection' he received, it would be safe to assume four initial patrons was at the very least unusual for whatever reason.
He lacked too many informations to make an educated decision. But maybe that was the point. Maybe that was another trial. After all, wasn't gods all about faith?
From what he could guess, those four had seen something in him that made them agree. Even if he didn't know what price they had to pay to sponsor a player, even if it was just a question of pride. They had certainly put a certain amount of faith in him.
He wanted to show them they weren't wrong on that point. That he was worth it.
Idly, he noticed how his list kept ticking up. But he ignored it. And clenching his fists, he declared. "I accept the conditions."
Immediatly after, he was swept away from the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IMPORTANT
A/N: Hello everyone, this fanfiction is inspired by many of my favorite stories of the moment, like paradise of infinity or Illimitable until death among others. This story will include among other things kingdom building, world creation and clash of these two things among player, so there will be a signifiant amount of AU content between arc and world, you have been warned. Though the presence of known characted is almost guaranted in these scenes. Also, no universal harem. Max two to three girls per worlds.
Though now is the important part, you will get to recommend a world for the protag to go to. The only prerequisite is that the power ceiling is not very high. And I will pick among them. Like can or cannot the outcome, who know?
Recommendation Here:
Finally, the presence of system message will cartainly lighten in the near future. So if you are put off by it, don't worry.