She was a goddess, well maybe, she didn’t have a way to confirm it and the only information she had was the system and she had made that accidentally on a whim. Assuming this wasn’t some crazy dream or a fever…
‘No stop thinking like that’
She could always change her opinion about what was happening later. She was here right now and what ever that meant it was real enough. Next thought, what was she the goddess of then? She didn’t have an answer right away. It felt like she could choose and it mattered how she was perceived by others maybe. Ok that seemed right, how she defined and was defined mattered and her strengths and weaknesses would be determined by her choices. The responsibility and possibility of that thought was terrifying.
Back to her void, hah her void, this dark place was still boring. She thought about her uncles old basement where he introduced her to table top role playing games. She wondered for a second trying to make the memory real. Concrete walls and thick rugs on the floor, the space was about the size of a living room. In the middle there was a big handmade table for maps and books. The wood was super thick and the table weighed a ton but her uncle had been really proud of the massive unwieldy table. An old couch against one of the walls next to a full sized fridge. The other wall was where her uncle had his computer and a desk with a big chair. Around the table was an old recliner, and a few folding chairs and one dinning room chair that had been dragged down into the basement from who knew where. There was also a garage style shelving unit with toolboxes full of miniatures and gaming materials by the stairs that went up to the house. Last there was a well worn solid green door where the stairs connected to the rest of the house.
The memory felt so real and she was happy remembering what was probably her favorite place in the world. Well favorite place before all of this, and as she thought about her situation, she noticed a green door in the darkness. It was off in the distance a bit, though it was there.
Domain has been modified and ‘Game Room’ as been added
Would you like to rename your personal domain?
‘Tempting but no, thank you system’
Games has been added to your divine focus
‘Oh… well I guess thats ok.’
The system was her attempt to gamify her existence so she could figure things out and the first thing she added to her void was a game room. It fit she had to admit and she wasn’t against being the Goddess of Games. Her consciousness moved to the door somehow and she thought about how to open it. It would be nice to have hands and a body. It worked last time so she imagined herself and some comfortable clothes, with a slight adjustment to be prettier. After a moment she reached for the door with her new hands.
’Nice!’
The room looked just like she had imagined it, it even had the right smell. She walked down the stairs into the room, she knew it wasn’t the same room logically, her uncle had moved to a different house a few years ago. They hadn’t gotten the table out of the basement and ended up cutting it up and junking it after the house sold. And most of this furniture had either ended up sold or in the dump. It was nice to see it all again she had missed it. There was a map on the table and a stack of what looked like hard cover game manuals too. Those were definitely new, The map was really high quality and the books looked like they were fresh from the press. She was already interested so she walked over to the table to have a closer look. The map was an extensive world map. There were continents and oceans that looked very different to but similar enough to earth that it wasn’t jarring. It had a fantasy vibe with fantastic names and places. Though, most of the map was scattered villages and wilderness. It had a title on the top also in a beautiful handwritten script.
‘Werthe’ She read the title aloud. The books next to it were “Player’s Guide to Werthe”, “The Complete Werthe Encyclopedia”, “The Werthe Campaign Setting”, and finally “History of Werthe”. She picked up the “History of Werthe” and looked in the cover.
On this day, the Goddess of Games came to the realm and sat in her void learning about the world.
-FIN
‘That’s it? System what is with this book?’
The book collects events as you experience them, you do not have experience beyond your time in the void.
“Ah…” She just spoke! That was something basic but it was the first time she had used her new mouth. Her voice had almost a musical quality to it now. ‘Hmm goddess stuff’ She wasn’t expecting the other books to have anything yet since the history book was empty but felt like proving it to herself so she picked up the “Player’s Guide to Werthe” and it had tons of information in it!
Deciding to use her voice again, “System, why is there a bunch written in the player’s guide?”
The player’s guide is full of the information you have learned about Werthe since you’ve been in the void
Woah. Thats crazy. She must be processing things beyond her limited conscious perception or something. What kind of skill what that even be.. something like multitasking… oh oh… split mind like in some of her favorite books.
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Skill Split Mind added
*ding* Split Mind +1
*ding* Split Mind +1
*ding* Split Mind +1
*ding* Split Mind +1
*ding* Split Mind +1
*ding* Split Mind +1
*ding* Split Mind +1
*ding* Split Mind +1
*ding* Split Mind +1
Skill Split Mind has reached level 10, you have earned the title
*ding* Split Mind +1
*ding* Split Mind +1
*ding* Split Mind +1
*ding* Split Mind +1
*ding* Split Mind +1
*ding* Split Mind +1
*ding* Split Mind +1
*ding* Split Mind +1
*ding* Split Mind +1
*ding* Split Mind +1
Skill Split Mind has reached level 20, you have earned the title
Too many notifications, she decided that would be distracting so she changed it from individual *ding*s to bulk notifications and to just show the new total and total amount gained.
*ding* Skill Split Mind is now maxed out at 256 and has gained a total of 256 points
You do not get anymore titles for this skill, because the part of you that is making titles is being lazy. System would recommend firing her.
That explains a lot. “System, adjust the level cap for mortal skills to 100 and make it so that the titles only happen at level 50 and 100 so we can help the me making skills out.”
Adjustment made
Sylvie could feel the sass coming from the system. Moving on, ‘I wonder why there is a map of someplace called Werthe but not Earth sitting open on the table.’ She looked over at the shelving unit by the stairs she had walked past coming down here. Sure enough there were some papers over there and some rolled up maps. One map was labeled “Earth”. She picked up the rolled up map and walked over to the table with it. She unrolled it but then it would roll back up, she looked for a weight or something to hold the corners down so went back to the shelving unit and grabbed a toolbox of miniatures they used to play with when she was a kid. The map still rolled up. “System why can’t I open the Earth map for more than a few seconds?”
The map of Earth is currently much more difficult to access
‘That is weird’ She would have to think about that some more. She put the Earth map back on the shelf and went to grab the toolbox full of miniatures but stopped. ‘Everything down here seems to have some sort of purpose and is useful, what could be in this toolbox?’ She opened the lid and inside there were a ton of miniatures all neatly organized in little containers and the tool box was much bigger on the inside. “Huh, divine toolbox” The miniatures were interesting too, a bunch of humans and the more standard fantasy races, elves, dwarves, and gnomes. She had the impression that each figure represented a person and that these were the only ones that she could sense. Curious she picked on up and took a closer look at it.
Human, Male age 34
“You are cheating Red! There is no way you have three crowns in your hand!”
The voice was from the figure, it didn’t move, though as she held the figure there was a connection of some kind. A moment went by and maybe another person was talking now? She couldn’t hear that part of the conversation. The figure in her hand was the only person she was connected to at the moment. She heard the voice as he talked again. “Liar! I can see a card in your sleeve! Grab this bastard and let’s see if he has anymore tricks and cards on him!”
Curious and a little bored with her game room she focused on the figure and found herself looking at a smoke filled room like she was looking down on it. There was a table with cards scattered around and they were shaped like octagons. A man was on his back with his hands out to the sides while two men were shaking cards out of his sleeves and he weakly protested. Another man, the one she originally heard talking was standing above the man on the ground looking upset. They all wore clothing that could have come from a medieval village, very simple looking but well made with long pants and leather boots and tunics over long sleeved shirts. All four men had short dusky brown hair and brown eyes.
She thought for a moment and then commented thinking about how she didn’t like it when people cheated either. “No one likes cheaters.” The standing man froze in place and his shoulders started shaking. She covered her mouth with her free hand. ‘Did this guy just hear her? Oh cats, that might not be super good’ The two men that were holding down the cheater noticed the shaking too, “You doing well, Theo?” The man on the left asked. The standing man, Theo, just nodded and said. “I think I’ve had too much to drink, time for me to go home.” The man on the left just shrugged and went back to work finding more cards on the grounded man shaking him as he spoke to him. “Who cheats when we aren’t even betting, you’re lucky it was your friends you idiot.”
‘So a friendly game, but a friend that still cheats, eh’
Her perception automatically followed the man outside as he started walking home. It was late in the day and he was in some kind of village that was getting dark. Everything was sturdy looking, the buildings and houses were a combination of wood, stone, and some kind of plaster. The roofs had a steep slope and were mostly shingled with dark red clay tiles but a few had a thick thatch. Hundreds of people probably lived here. Sylvie could see that some of the buildings had glass windows but all of the windows had wooden shutters. When Theo passed the last house of the main village he hopped over a fence that was about chest high on the man with a well practiced grace and cut across a pasture with a few sheep and horses. When he was about in the middle of the pasture he stopped and looked up.
“You still there?”
‘Cats! He could hear her talking!’ Welp that answered that question. She let a long embarrassed sigh and said. “Yes I am still watching you, Theo.” With him looking up she could see his eyes widen with the words as he most definitely could hear her talking. His face scrunched up as he thought for a second, clearly trying to choose his words with care. “Are you going to eat me or curse me?” He said as he looked around with a nervous expression. ‘Eat him? What kind of world was Werthe if that was his first question? It was a little insulting’ She sighed again. “No, I am not going to eat you, that just sounds gross, you get that right? Why would I eat you?”
“I thought monsters ate people. And you are a voice trying to trick me.” Theo said.
“If you think I am a monster, why stop in the middle of a field away from anyone that might be able to help you? This is just silly, you are talking to the sky right now… in a field. Your words say one thing but your actions say another my dude.”
He thought about that for a minute and seemed to calm down but then looked up again. “What’s a dude?”
“Ahhh” She had nothing. ‘Wasn’t a dude a hair on a butt? Probably should’t tell him that.’ She decided to go a different way, ignore the question and bulldoze the conversation so she didn’t have to answer.
“You seemed like you were good at losing that game.” She grinned and wondered if he would take the bait.
“Red is a cheater! You were watching and even commented about it! Obviously!”
“Oh yeah, sure” she said
“Oh don’t you egg me on too, girlie. I’ll just ignore you until you leave me alone.”
“Not scared anymore?” She asked
“No, you seem like a nice young lady. Though, I can’t figure out where you are hiding.” Theo did seem much calmer.
“I’m not where you are, I’m just watching and talking to you.”
He considered it for a little while. “Can you come here?” He said and then added. “I live by myself and don’t really have anyone to talk to at the farm. No judgements if you come out.”
She looked around her basement wondering if it was even possible to leave her domain. “Stay where you are Theo, I need to put you down for a second.”
“What!? How… What does-“ His words cut off as she put his piece on the table. It slid on its own to part of the map and stopped. She picked up the book “Player’s Guide to Werthe” opened it to the table of contents and grinned.