Looking at the window in front of my eyes, I felt like I was seconds away from going through a Donald Duck type of rage fit. Therefore, in order to calm myself down I took a deep breath and exhaled... seeing that it didn't work, I repeated the process about six more times, until I was feeling somewhat less murderous and started to try piecing the things together.
First off, from what that useless God told me, this game consists of 1000 players (Gods) and him as the game master (the useless administrator). Since he indeed mentioned one of them 'fading out of existence' or something and one planet remained God-less, I am now supposed to take his place since himself as game master cannot intervene directly. This pretty much implied that I just skipped the part where I journey through life and death scenarios for years and years, suffer tribulations and missfortune... and then reach the apex level, the realm of Gods. Yeah! I just warped my ass from the interview for an intern position, to that of the CEO of the firm...
Secondly, this game's purpose is to be used as a channel to compete among each other in terms of civilization, culture, military might and any other index that might be relevant at a global level. Or, to put in a different way, who's the best at God-ing. Now, in my case, even with that 'tour' I was given, I'm still at a loss as per how the heck I'm I supposed to compete with the other libraries of knowledge (a.k.a. Gods), given that I only played a couple of games in the past... I am not even on a level of a weebo with shitloads of internet knowledge... Best I can manage are some songs that I still remember the lyrics of... maybe I could become a bard or something...
Third, as creepy as it might sound, the main resource in the game are souls. That's right, human souls! To make matters worse, it's used as method of currency and the quality is just as important as the quantity. That means that the 'adventurer system' I've witnessed and experienced previously with levels and Jobs, is mandatory in order to refine them further. As per how you gather those... souls, I have no clue whatsoever. All I am certain of is, that it will surely be used as currency given that even in the name of the 'game' has the words 'Auction House' in it, signifying that things (hopefully not more souls) will be available to be purchased.
Fourth, once again, I'm at a large disadvantage compared to the other 'players'. I mean honestly, they watched countless civilizations rise and fall, therefore even the dumbest, most musclehead-like War God, still has an idea of what he should and he shouldn't do. Me? I slept through most of my history classes and I can only rely on games like Age of Empires or Civilization to do anything slightly usefull... and even those, I'm not confident in reproducing. Obviously, every God will have his/her's own approach on how to start and handle things, as well as the general direction in which his civilization should head in the future. What the hell I'm I supposed to do about mine? Is not like I know anything about military except some vague things from the movies I've watched, I don't know anything more than a couple of things I've learned in literature class about poets, writers and philosophers, therefore unable to focus heavily on culture or even give guidance and I have also zero dexterity whatsoever when it comes to building stuff, so the land of artisans is also out of the equation... My future looks grim....
Fifth and lastly, after all the complaining, I'm rather calm and collected when compared with how I thought I'd react initially. I should give myself a pat on the shoulder, as well as extra credit for the fact that I'm not freaking out. Why? Well, given that I am currently floating in mid-air in the middle of a 'room' of sorts, barely illuminated, with a goddamn black sphere in front of me that's the size of a house, I'd say that I'd earn that right.
Ugh... That's probably my new 'world' or at least the visual representation of it. I hope it's the second one... Suddenly becoming a giant that's the size of the moon, feels rather tacky. Let's start the tutorial...
"Yes!"
Initiating...
Gathering required data!
Accessing the game compiled database!
Scanning the player for authorization... Granted!
Beginning tutorial!
After the words spoken in monotone by an asexual voice that gave me the creeps, I realized that vocal commands were the only way to do anything. I say that with certainty, because I nearly fell (if that's even possible) trying to press 'Yes' on the blue window interface in front of me. EMBARRASSING!!!
I focused on the 'tab' (it looks like a game window...) that suddenly enlarged and transformed from a small pop-up window, into a really loooooong sheet of paper. Then, words began floating upwards on it, exactly like in the Star Wars intro of the movie, making me scream inwardly 'Copyrights'. I calmed down and started reading...
Once upon a time, the Gods were bored...
"Oi! The fuck!?"
...so in order to alleviate the said boredom and find a proper source of entertainment, they started a game.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
This game where one uses their knowledge, personality and divinity in order to bring a world into shape, develop it and compete against the other players for supremacy in one field, or in all of them.
Let the mortals fall on their knees and prostrate in front of you with worship because of the miracles you grant them, or shiver in fear of the punishment you will deliver for those astray.
Will you have them suffer ordeals in order to strengthen both their souls and their faith, or will you nurture them with kindness and nudge them towards the peaks of knowledge?
Peace, or war?
Civilization through industry, or cultural advancement?
Good, or evil?
Only you have the power to decide!
Okay, I have to admit that for a game intro, that was pretty good. It sounds impressive enough and would certainly excite the players if one thought about the gameplay... if they wouldn't be dragged around by an useless God and without any sort of proper prior explanation be dropped in the middle of it. That and the fact that the monotone voice reading out those phrases, ruined the whole thing.
While I was giving my opinion as a rather experienced gamer, the last word disappeared and the 'tab' once again resized itself, this time into something like a home cinema. A video started playing.
The said video began with the same black sphere which was right behind the current screen, suddenly being illuminated by a star that popped out into existence near it, forcing the planet to orbit around it due to its size. Following a couple of cycles, a moon appeared in the vicinity of the still black sphere, beginning to spin around it as well. Watching it on fast-forward really makes one dizzy...
Seconds later, cracks appeared in the black color encompassing the world, revealing a brown healthy color. Like paint falling from an olden car, piece after piece of black was being engulfed by the newly created dirt, giving way to different forms of land from mountains to valleys and many others.
Later on, streaks of blue began slithering across it, just like flying dragons, forcing their way and reshaping it even more, while splitting the land into various parts.
Then, a surprising thing happened. Because of the newly appeared water, a shapeless fog began engulfing the entire planet, giving it a light blue color. That was probably the atmosphere.
Following the rather interesting display, after a slight time lapse, small plants began to sprout here and there, dyeing the ground in a multitude of colors, followed by myriads of insects and animals traveling around the newly created planet in search of a home.
To my surprise, it didn't stop there. With the appearance of the first humans, the video began to focus on them entirely forsaking general background stuff. Buildings rose from the ground, huge patches of land were reclaimed and used as farms, hordes of wild animals were herded giving birth to animal husbandry and the once small village, slowly began to develop into a city, then a county, then a prefecture, then into a full blown country. Civilization bloomed and technology advanced by leaps and bounds, soon giving way to legions of well equiped armies being trained by a stern looking general riding on top of a horse.
Then suddenly, in the middle of one night, the sky lit up and split apart. Through it, a voice boomed loudly, making itself known to the ones staring agape at the marvel that connected the heaven and earth, dancing in different colors. People fell to their knees quickly and began worshiping the God which announced its presence to them, not daring to dawdle even for a second, or try to look up at the wondrous phenomena. Temples were built the following days and peace reclaimed the world.
The hunters became fighters, under the guidance of their deity and trained daily due to the prophecy their priests granted upon them: an enemy that will threaten their livelihood will soon appear. And appear it did!
Hordes of monsters clashed against the human legions. Claws and fangs were stopped with swords and spears, even if they were outnumbered greatly. But they were still outnumbered and soon, lives were reaped at a disheartening pace. Seeing such a massacre occur, the priests fell to the ground praying for help from their God and such prayer was heard. Light shone above the soldiers as a reply.
Like a sea parting, the army made way for five people which fearlessly advanced and rushed into the enemy hordes on their own. Fire explosions burned thousands of monsters into dust, while ice and lightning rained upon thousands more. Simple swings of a lance cleared hundreds of meters in front of the warriors, while just one prayer from such a hero raised and healed his previously fallen comrades. The enemies didn't stand a chance!
With victory achieved and the monsters subjugated, they once again returned to building their civilization, polishing and improving weapons and praying daily to the God which saved them. Soon, building blocks towering above the trees replaced the modest dwellings which once stood on this field, while the troops kept cleansing the lands from the presence of monsters. Nothing could stop them from achieving the wishes of their God.
Until a bolt of lighting literally split heavens and ground apart once more, leaving one person raising to its feet in the cloud of dust. The shadow of a person was slowly revealed by the blowing wind and soon a brave warrior appeared, looking down on the army he was facing, sneering at them. Turning around with his back facing them in provocation, he raised his fist towards the sky while holding a red blood-dripping sword and howled to the heavens.
Following such a loud shout, an even more powerful and louder one came from the direction the warrior was looking at, as millions upon millions of people grouped up in front of him. Facing such huge numbers, the general of the defending army smiled with glee at the invader army, took out his lance, pointed at the enemy and gave the order to engage!
Two armies charged against one another under a sky now dark and filled with roaring thunder.
And then the video stopped...
"Wow..."
Initializing the first mission...