Ethan Gong.

A world-renowned gamer that was famous throughout the whole gaming community and his name even appeared on the news multiple times. Although most people doesn't know his real name other than his iconic username, Hardcore Leveling Warrior or in short, HCLW.

The man was found dead inside his home.

His corpse was found after a report from a delivery man who had smelt something disgusting behind the door and the homeowner hasn't answered his call even after ringing the doorbell.

The corpse was already 3 days old when they found it, as he doesn't have any family or friends to take care of his funeral. His fans decided to create a small-scale funeral for him.

Inside various of the game he played, all the devs decided to create a memorial for him in a form a statue or easter eggs.

His death have made quite an impact on the world.

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Standing in the middle of a white void, Ethan Gong was puzzled.

Where am I? He thought to himself before he noticed a figure in a distance.

With no other choice, he approached the figure before crouching to ask him.

"Um excuse me but… do you know where this is?"

The bright eyes of the figure slowly looking up as both of them locked eyes before the figure smiled.

The figure let out an ethereal voice, "You've finally arrived, Ethan Gong."

Ethan was slightly surprised and back down after hearing his name from a cloaked stranger.

"Don't be surprised like that and let me introduce myself, I don't have a name since the start of my creation before the universe was even thing but you humans and my offspring called me the supreme god."

Ethan was still wary but he soon gave in after thinking about it for a while, he then sat on the ground facing the self-proclaimed supreme god.

"So gods are real, huh? And now that I am meeting you, does that mean I died? Can you tell me what happened? All the memories of the events are all messed up in my head…" Ethan asked the supreme god for some assistance.

"It was nothing special, you didn't die through any average means, you just straight up stopped living and fall down as a lifeless corpse. And in normal circumstances you'll ended up in the reincarnation cycle not in this realm, the only reason you were here because I have an offer to give you."

That was quite anticlimactic, but oh well, who cares? Ethan thought to himself, "By the way, I am quite captivated by what are those offer may be?"

A smile decorated the supreme god's face as he hold out his hand and said.

"I want to give you my power and position as a God."

Ethan was doubtful of the legitimacy of those offer and tried to ask again but his words were interrupted.

"I am not trying to deceive you, I truly want to give up my power and position. I do not wish to continue being a supreme being…"

Ethan couldn't understand why and asked, "Why? You're already the most powerful being on the universe, you own everything. Why do you want to give up those limitless power on anyone else let alone myself? Don't you know about my reputation down there?"

"Your reputation when you were alive is not important beca I made you as a variant of a man that reached Godhood just to make everyone he care about happy. In addition, being a God isn't as fun as you thought it would. I was created solely to manage the entire universe endlessly and I also couldn't feel any humanly desire and was quite envious towards humanity…"

"I am curious about how it felt like to be happy, to laugh, to be hungry, to be sad, to hate, to be angry, to be greedy and to be grateful. I also want to feel love and be loved but even if I create an avatar to live my dream… it wasn't the same as living it myself, descend into the world was out of the question due to my overwhelming presence. I want to live as a human, I just doesn't want to be a god anymore…"

Ethan was curious and asked, "Why don't you just reincarnate yourself as a human?"

"I can't, for myself to reincarnate as a human, I'll need to get rid of all my powers and memories to live a happy life but the absence of a supreme god will cause the world to be in chaos and the world will crumble. That's why I need a replacement, you."

"Ethan Gong, have you ever felt love?"

Ethan found the question quite strange and tried to recall any memory but as expected none come up and then said, "Nope, never. Died a virgin."

"What about Anne?"

Anne? Who's that? Ethan was puzzled by the question.

"You dont know her? Does 'Armes' ring a bell?"

Armes… Armes… Armes… sounds familiar- Oh! Ethan finally remembered who Armes is.

"So Armes real name was Anne? Its been a long time since the last time I talk with her…" While talking about Anne's, Ethan's face turned gloomy as he recalled the moment he received the last message from her.

[ Thank you, Hclw. You've made my life in the last months exponentially better and goodbye. - Love, Armes. ]

Ethan took a deep sigh before staring into the bright eyes of the supreme god.

"We were just an acquaintance, even if I do hold a feeling for her, it has been years since that time and I bet her soul have move on into another reincarnation…" Ethan said to the supreme god.

"I already know about that hence I purposely refused to reincarnate her soul."

Behind the supreme god, a transparent figure slowly emerging from the ground.

Ethan stared at the figure with disbelief and soon turned into shock after he noticed the soul wasn't wearing any clothes.

"Stop! Why the fuck is she naked?!" Ethan shout at the supreme god as his face was slightly red from embarrassment.

"A soul couldn't wear any clothing."

Ethan sighed before saying, "Your offer was for me to become a God replacing you, right?"

The supreme god nodded.

"You also mentioned about me being a copy of someone that reached godhood. Before I could decide whether to accept or decline, I want to see who is the guy." Ethan's face was decorated with a huge smile and eyes full of anticipation.

"As you wish then."

Woah- Ethan brain was overflowed with countless amounts of memories, the memories slowly but surely engraving itself into his mind and changing the personality of himself into more similar to the memories and quickly synchronized.

Not only mental, his physical appearance was changed too.

His short black hair slightly grows and slowly turned red, his black eyes turned into shining red eyes that was filled with knowledge and his former unathletic and unhealthy body into a body that was almost unattainable without crazy genetics or extra supplements.

After his transformation, Ethan Gong's face was decorated with a huge smile as he stared at the supreme god.

"So? Do you accept my offer?"

The supreme god asked in a rather impatient tone.

Ethan stared at the supreme god before saying, "Sure. I accept this trade."

The supreme god stood up and hold out his hand then said.

"Shake my hand and the contract will be completed."

Both of their hand touched and they began shaking hands.

Soon, Ethan could feel his body fueled by the power that used to be inside the supreme god… it was an incredible amount of power.

"As for our agreement, I'm going to turn you into a soul so that you could enter the cycle of reincarnation." Ethan said as he grabbed the former supreme god forehead and imbued the former supreme god with an insignificant amount of cosmic energy.

As the former supreme god fade from the void, he smiled and muttered.

"Thank you, Ethan Gong. Oh, and forgive me for your misfortune throughout your life, it was due to an error in my part while trying to copy & paste the other Ethan Gong."

Ethan stared at the soon-to-disappear former supreme god and said.

"Go ahead and enjoy life, do sin or virtue, whatever you want and make sure to get laid with a great woman or whoever they may be… Big guy." Ethan said before he bid his farewell, "Goodbye."

After he was left alone with Anne's soul, Ethan only sat there and staring at it for a while.

Should I revive her? Nah, not yet. Even though I regained most of my powers from my peak days as Hardcore Leveling Warrior, it wasn't complete. I am not confident enough to protect Anne against foe with such strong abilities. Ethan thought to himself having a dilemma whether to resurrect Anne or leave her be.

Ethan noticed that the supreme god he met was somehow an entity on a lower end of the strength spectrum aka extremely weak yet the supreme god hold a power slightly above HCLW when he fought against the God's toys, Zero.

Fuck it. Let just see how it goes from here… Ethan decided to resurrect Anne and gave her the memories of the past aka alternate universe.

He created a physical vessel imbued with a power of a God, the supreme one at that for Anne. He gave her a batch of memories of Anne from the alternate universe.

"Armes, could you do me a favor?" Ethan asked as he stared deep into Anne red eyes.

She also stared at him in silent for a moment before asking about what favor.

"You are a great leader and friend, you are also a courageous and adventurous person hence I will gave you the authority to rule this world, everything in it will be under your care and you can explore every single corner of the dark space. Do you accept?" Ethan asked.

If she doesn't accept I'll have no choice but to search for another way or just abandon this job… Ethan thought to himself.

"I accept!" With a bright smile decorated her face, Anne accepted the offer.

[ «Armes» have been chosen as a Supreme God substitute ]

[ Creation of the feature «Multiversal Hop» is successful ]

Before he left, Ethan approached Armes and then leaned over and kissed her on the lips.

"Wait for me to come back, Armes!" Ethan shout before disappearing into the light.

Armes was left alone in the void as she touched her lips while her face reddened.

"Hardcore Leveling Warrior- no. Ethan, I'll wait for you~" Armes chuckled before she stared at the panel infront of her.

[ Class: «Substitute God» ]