Prologue
[Finally…] “I fell to my knees coughing up blood “
[After ten long years of slavery and servitude I’d gotten my revenge, and when the captain walked in to see me, riddled with bullet holes on my knees surrounded by the corpses of his men, he lost his mind his friends his brothers his family taken.]
I chuckled looking up to see him draw his Gun, my smile only grew wider as he aimed for my forehead at point blank range.]
[I welcomed death, craved it even. I said only one thing as I head the click of his gun] Gotcha..”
[Then there was nothing but darkness, but something felt off I felt like I was floating completely weightless I couldn’t understand so I did the only thing I could]I opened my eyes.
[I have to say I was honestly speechless looking around me I saw stars and galaxies twisting and colliding growing and shrining planets going through various stages of destruction, above me there was an impossibly hugs sun that strangely didn’t scorch my eyes just for looking up it seemed to be frozen in mid-collapse.]
[With everything going on around me I was almost scared to look down but of course my curiosity got the best of me and I looked down, I immediately regret my decision to do so for below me was a massively gaping void of black and burning whit blue that I could only call a monstrosity as it seemed to endlessly engulf the planets and star systems around it making entire galaxies disappear.]
Hehehe”
[I spin around hearing the chuckle standing there is the last person I expected to see it was my best friend from back when I was alive, only he seemed to be 12 feet tall and his body was rippling with the muscles he used to always say he’d kill for glowing white hair and eyes burning like two miniature suns with black holes for pupils they twisted and contracted like they were trying to eat the flames around them he smiles and I shiver it feels like he’s looking through my soul what the hell! it was at that point that I gave up trying to make sense of anything so I did the only sensible thing I could]
“Who the fuck are you supposed to be ?”
Hahahahah!
[The weird giant who happened to look like my best friend but wasn’t Laughed, for some odd reason he was dressed like a biker whoever this freak is I can’t say he has bad taste.]
Well that’s not very nice I saved your life and even have an offer for you”
[I was silent a few moments as I thought things through]…Alright I’m listening but if I don’t like your offer you have to let me rest in peace”
Ahahaha! Fair enough well you must wonder why I look like a certain friend of yours I’ve borrowed his memories you see to offer a form more familiar to you I am an architect”
Uh…you make buildings for a living..?”[The giants eyebrow twitched when I said that I had to hold in a laugh, this guy could easily throw me into that black hole which I’m sure would not be a pleasant experience]
Your right I can and it wouldn’t be very pleasant at all kind of like squeezing the juice out of a grape the gravity would crush you and tear you to pieces before sucking you in.”
[Oh shit! Can this guy read minds] my eyes widen as he nods.
Alright then fine, so what exactly is this architect? Are you some kind of God or something?”
No to be exact we are a race of beings that existed long before all of that as you can see from the space around you we work on a much larger scale then what you are familiar with.”
You mean…you made all this?” He nods again and my mouth falls open as I look around me again.
So where does that put you on the grand scheme of things?”
Hm well the leader of our people is called the Grand Architect said to be he who created all though none of us has ever seen him if in fact it is a male at all. As for god, deities, devils, and the like every dimension and universe has their own as the architects we stand above all watching and creating letting what we make flourish into something of it’s own.”
Uhm…so you’re like a super god? ugh forget it this is to much for me to take in right now I’m still trying to process not being dead. What was that offer you mentioned?”
Ah yes. You see for some time I have been fascinated with earth I took a liking to you for you humans were the only race to adopt our name.”
I started to watch your struggles because you were an interesting case you were supposed to lead a different life and die of old age but one of your gods made a mistake and you paid the price and struggled against what had befallen you.”
You always fought against it even after betrayals and loss with no help and in the end all alone you kept going, my omnipotence would not work on you because your path was an accident 5 times you have genuinely surprised me and 5 times have you made me feel for your plight.”
Man you are longwinded guy, can you get to the point bad enough I’m finding out everything I’ve been through wasn’t even supposed to happen to me.”
Very well what I am offering you is the chance at another life, a life in a world of fantasy and lost dreams.”
[That definitely got me interested if he had even a few of my best friends memories he would know I loved everything fantasy before id been taken]
Exactly.”
“would you stop doing that!”
Hehe…oh don’t mind me it’s very lonely out here and I can’t help but dig through your mind a bit. Now then the world I am talking about is about oh somewhere around eleven times the size of earth magic and swords aren’t the only things you’ll find there.”
There is also science and technology as well as a world of espers which I will explain momentarily, quite exciting if I do say so myself. Lastly the fourth world is one entirely ruled by monsters, beasts and demon beasts.”
Each world has their own ecosystem, including monsters demons, and demon beasts as well as their own unique laws and society there is no normal wildlife on this planet mana densely enshrouds it the core of the planet generates it.”
The gods all took different paths for the beings that worshipped them and so to avoid war between their people they erected barriers that form 4 entirely different worlds, each world has no knowledge of the other and cannot pass through or even see the barrier to them it looks as if the their world just ends.”
So there’s no war?”
Hahaha there is always war my boy the races still kill each other plenty for land, greed and religion or power you’ll find these worlds have just as many difficulties as your old one.”
I will be sending you to the fantasy world of magic and blade they call their world Ben-Oni though you cannot start at the age that you are now you must either be reborn or sent to an age of 5 or less.”
Wait wait wait what!? Why can’t I go at my current age I’m only 25![I am not looking forward to a second puberty]
Well Like I said my omnipotence does not work on you the same can be said for most other powers, You died back on earth on an undersigned path, and I can only send you to this new world by having you born by natural inhabitants or remaking your body from scratch as a child with a new soul.”
I sigh.[I just can’t win can i]
Haha! Being special is as much a gift as it is a curse. Anyways the world your going to follows a kind of video game logic you will have level and stats skills that can be learned as well as jobs and classes as far as I know the highest level achieved their so far is by a dragon nearly as old as I am he’s around 5,000 though I’m uncertain if there is a limit to that growth.”
Geez for some kind of super god you sure don’t seem to know a lot.”
Yes how about you try keeping an eye on an untold number of individuals as well as their path in life and futures not to mentions that’s simply for your small part of the universe.”
I keep watch over billions each with even more galaxies and life than you can imagine so excuse me if I like to tune out the noise every once and a while.”
Well sorry no need to get so touchy.”
Hmph I should hope you are. Back to the offer though to start off would you like to be reborn or start from scratch? Also earlier I mentioned 5 surprises and five times of making me feel for your plight for this I shall grant you ten gifts of your choosing whether they be skills or items, whether they are from your imagination or from back on earth.”
…I think I would be better off starting from scratch, might lose my mind if I start over as a baby again.”
That’s fine any ideas on a soul?”
I don’t really know anything about souls but that dragon seems strong so I want the soul of a powerful dragon. Oh yea do souls generate mana like the core of that planet?”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Haha good choice most souls generate mana yes it is the core of a person no matter the being without the soul they cannot hold mana though there are special cases where someone has no mana but it is rare.”
What races are on Ben-Oni?”
Hm there are the normal ones human, beast-kin, elves, and the dwarves but there are also the demons the dragons, people of the depths, not to mention the intelligent monster tribes and the half human half monsters lamia or lizard men for example and angels.”
I whistled loudly. Now that’s crazy are there are actual angels and demons to huh?”
Indeed there are would you like to pick one of these races or try something a bit more fun?”
I’m listening. Oh I’ve always wondered this but do vampires fall under demons because that would be awesome!”
You can create an entirely new race just for you, no vampires in a sense do not exist in this world. But you could make something like one.”
[I couldn’t help but be excited at the prospect of creating my own race but at the same time I grew suspicious]why are you doing this?”
As I said I took an interest in you think of it as a reward for some long overdue amusement so are you interested ?”
Well of course I am I’d have to be stupid not to be but how do I pick my skill and make my own race ah I almost forgot here you go.”
I Jumped as I hear a loud ding seemingly inside my head and suddenly a display appeared before my eyes.
[Name: ???
Age: 25
Sex: M
Race:????
Level: 1
Jobs: ??
Classes: ??
Strength:20
Intelligence:30
Defence:5
Agility:14
Magic:0
Luck:60
Skills: Universal Understanding (unique) Lvl: Max lets you understand and be understood by anyone you speak to.
Eyes of the architect (legendary)Lvl: Max Lets you analyze items and see the stats of others, can also see through skills and illusions.]
Hey it says here I already have two skills what gives?”
Ah those ? just freebies you’ll need them when you get there have you decided on the ten gifts you want yet while we are on the subject ?”
10 times the experience for everything I defeat for starters, and I want 4 times the stat and skill points on level up!”
Ahahaha! Oh wow really thinking like a gamer isn’t he?”
Stats can make or break a player and since you can’t tell me if there is a level cap or not I think 10 times experience isn’t asking for much don’t you?”
Thinking about it how about the power to ingest the souls of freshly killed enemies to absorb some of their skills and stats and an OPTIONAL physical trait wouldn’t want to randomly gain the ability to sprout fur all over my body.”
Done that’s 3 gifts what else did you have in mind.”
Well since I want something at least similar to a vampire how about the power to control the blood of the dead and immunity to debuffs or status ailments being an architect I’m hoping you know what that is.”
Yes yes I understand you have 5 left,”
Whatever I want huh? Then I want a certain skill but it has to come with a counterpart.”
…well I would have to say it depends on what you’re asking for I wouldn’t want you to take advantage of my deal now.”
I want the ability to tame monsters and dragons annnd I want a dragon to be created and sent to the new world with me for when I wake up.”
Ahahaha I see that certainly makes sense I can do it but are you sure you wouldn’t rather have a fully grown dragon ?”
No I’d like to learn and grow just as much as them and it would be nice to have a little friend to take care of even if they will grow to be huge later I want the bond.”
Very well I can count that as one gift only 4 more.”
I….want a big airship capable of low orbit and if need be space flight and it has to have room for at least a thousand people to live there, it has to have a limitless power supply and the ability to sustain 1000 people indefinitely oh and make sure it has an automated crew to look after it until I reach level 100 and if you could make it invisible and undetectable by any of the gods of that world I’d hate to lose it before I get to use it”
Space travel in a fantasy world interesting…consider it done that leave you with only 3 left choose carefully.”
The power to generate and manipulate dark energy, hey wait does that world have item boxes or anything ?”
Oh I almost forgot.” I jumped again hearing the ding in my head.[that’ll take getting use to.]
[Skills: Universal Understanding (unique)
Eyes of the architect (Legendary)
Soul absorption (Rare) Lvl: 1 Allows you to devour the souls of your enemies gaining a portion of their power and 2 random skills more if the opponent is a higher level then you and one optional physical trait.
10 x experience (Unique) Lvl: Max gained for defeating an enemy.
4 x the amount of stat and skill points gained on level up (Rare) Lvl: Max
Blood of the Fallen (legendary) Lvl: 1 Allows you to manipulate and absorb the blood of the freshly deceased as a weapon or to heal your own injuries. (time limit dependent on level of skill every level adds one hour)
King of tamers (Legendary) Lvl: 1 Allows you to capture and tame monsters and demonic beasts number of creatures tamable dependent on level. Monsters tamed 1 of 2
First born of the Dark (God) Lvl: 1 Allows the generation and manipulation of dark energy the higher the level over this skill the more control you will have over the dark energy.
Abnormal status resistance (Unique) Lvl: 3 Grants immunity to negative status effects by drug or magic Potency dependent on level.]
[Items: Vessel of the Ancients (God class artifact) an ancient vessel with limitless power capable of housing over a thousand passengers high tech energy defense systems and shielding advanced armor plating capable of withstanding the gravity of a collapsing star, fully automated crew.
Item Box (Legendary) unlike the dimensional rings of Ben-Oni the item box is capable of holding an infinite number of items stacking and sorting them on its own , it resides in a separate dimension. Items may be placed or removed by thinking of the item you want. Currently holds: Vessel of the Ancients ( Required level: 100)]
Oh wow! that’s amazing so do dragons count as a monster or demonic beast?”
Technically they are both Demonic beasts are monster that have been corrupted by an overabundance of mana and mutated. Dragons are the same except they can control their mutations because they’re bodies can hold a much larger amount of mana. Think of it this way if a monsters mana is a trickle and a demon beast a waterfall then a dragons would be a tsunami.”
[I suddenly felt very small knowing I would be going to a world where creatures like dragons may be an everyday appearance]
You have two more gifts left.”
To be able to pass through the barriers between the worlds with my ship and anyone on it.”
Ha! I was wondering if we were going to get to that smart choice my boy smart indeed for your final gift ?”
Hm two swords made of the hardest material known to an architect and I want them to be rings when not in use I want one to have the power to cut through and absorb magic and the other to be strong and sharp enough to cut down gods and still keep going.”
Do you wish for them to be level locked as well ?”
Tch no are you crazy ill cut down anything in my way with those babies but…maybe until I can use a sword a bit better, alright fine but only until im level 20 and they need to be able to grow with me when I get older.”
Done ? good all that’s left to do now is create your new body”
Well keeping in line with a vampire I want to have heightened physical abilities but none of that weakness to sunlight or stakes and the like no vampire stereotypes please and the pointed ears of an elf and the tail of a wolf beast kin. That should be all OH! And I want bluish silver eyes with a faint glow”
Ahahaha! Well I must say you did your best to break the bank enjoy your new world.”
[you know that feeling you get when you fall suddenly and you feel like you stomach wants to fly out of your throat that’s the feeling I had when the ground dropped out beneath me and I plummeted into the heart of that black hole there was not time to scream no pain only the crushing blackness of the void.]
Hmph fight your hardest out there boy see if you can’t entertain me a bit more he he...you’re not the only chosen of an architect on that planet.”