..... beep!
beeP!
BEEP!
BEEP!
A beeping Alarm jolts awake a drowsy, drooling face from its slumber on a keyboard.
"Shit! I overslept!"
'No! No! not today!. We were supposed to have a coffee date in the morning. Ah! that stupid debugging took too long.'
'Got to hurry!'
After an intense 15 seconds of çleaning' up, he bolts to the bathroom with a towel. A quick shower and an intense session of brushing later, he rushes out to put on his clothes.
*Phone rings*
{Hello babe? Where are you? Have you started yet?}
"Yes Honey I'm on the way, be there in 10 mins."
{You overslept again didn't you?}
"No! No! I really will be there in 10 mins"
{It's fine. Don't rush when driving. I'll be waiting. Love you!}
"Love you too! and sry!"
*Beep*
*Sigh...*
"She is such an angel! I feel bad for making her wait."
"Still can't believe I have such an Angel for a partner!", he rejoices with a stupid grin.
"Okay! time to go!"
Now, dressed and his hair combed, he runs out of his room and down the stairs quickly.
"Shi......"e
On the way down, as anyone running down the stairs while distracted would, he inevitably trips and as he falls, there is nothing but black.
----------------------------------------
'Did I blackout? but didn't I just fall? How am I conscious and blacked out at the same time??'
'Can't feel my body or move anything. I can't even hear anything. Wait! Am I even blacked out? Did I die or something?!! No! No. Can't be! Can't be! Got to calm down.'
Suddenly, there is a small, soft, white light in front. It slowly brightens into a radiant golden silhouette.
'Wait, is that an Angel? What the hell am I seeing??'
"Greetings my Champion!", a loud yet gentle voice comes out of the being in front.
Along with the words, a floating person is revealed with majestic wings. With the most perfect face and body, a Goddess greets him with a radiant and benevolent smile.
"Woah!...Wh- Who are you Ma'am?"
*Giggle*
A heavenly female voice answered with a beautiful giggle that sounded like the jingles of happiness itself.
"As you can see, I'm your God. I have come to lead you on the most wonderful adventure as my champion."
"My God? but I'm an Atheist!", blurted out the man and immediately regretted it.
'What kind of an idiot am I? She is clearly some supernatural being. Why am I proclaiming my Atheism at this point of time? I should have just kept my mouth shut! I hope they don't take offense.'
As he was panicking inside, the Goddess had an amused expression on her face before replying, "Haha! just because you do not believe or pray, doesn't mean there isn't a god taking responsibility young one."
"Still, that was an amusing time to say that. I have to admit."
The benevolent and king goddess was unoffended by the thoughtless remark of the mortal.
"So- Sorry! That was a rude thing to say to a God."
'But wait, why am I blindly believing them as a god? No, no~! How could I still doubt such a benevolent and diving being?'
"So, my Goddess, you said you're here to take me away somewhere? Where to?"
"Ah! finally, my child, your thoughts have come back to the matter at hand. Yes, I'm here to take you away as my Champion. I promise you that you will have a most fulfilling and adventurous life. You will want for nothing under my care!" The motherly Goddess once again offers her kindness to the rude mortal with an ever radiant, amicable smile.
"Ah! How could I be this lucky my God?! Truly? Then how do we proceed? I'm forever grateful to you for this kindness!"
"My eager child, you are truly lovely to behold. You've been chosen from amongst all the qualified candidates of your world," the kind Goddess lovingly dotes on her lamb.
The eyes of the Mortal turned delightful at his god's approval of him. With an almost fanatical gaze, he awaits his God's instructions.
"So, chosen child, are you ready to depart from this world with me and become my champion willingly? You may never return here again. But I do not see why you would ever need to."
"You're right! what is even in this sinful world that isn't beneath your majesty?"
"Yes! I would like to-...."
'Wait I'm forgetting something! What is it? I feel like it's something important. What was I doing again earlier?'
He pauses from contemplation. There is a small struggle in his expression from trying to remember the important thing.
'I was in a hurry to go somewhere to meet someone important. Wait! WAIT! I was going to meet her, my love! How could I have forgotten my Goddess?.....huh? what? My....Goddess...? No, why can't I remember her name? Why are my memories all jumbled up? Everytime I try, only the memories of this god come out instead of her's. Something's wrong!!'
The mortal breaks from his trance with an expression of shock towards the goddess.
"Go on. tell me you agree my lovely child!", the goddess tries to egg him on with a most radiant, motherly smile.
The man slowly changes to a solemn expression as he stares at the entity before him with cold sweat drenching his clothes.
"Who are you?"
The kind expression on the radiant Goddess slowly changes to a cold one.
"Ah! I guess the candidate isn't complete trash this time. No matter, that is a good thing in the end," The goddess ignores the panicked mortal's question.
"I asked who you are!"
"No need to be impatient. We have all the time in the world. I AM a God, currently holding the 'rights' to your world, in your human terms. So, what I said earlier is all technically the truth. You are to be my champion and what that entails is something I can only tell you once you agree to leave with me."
"Do I actually have a choice in the matter? What happens if I agree?"
"Of course you have a choice. If you agree, I will bestow upon you both power and riches in exchange for being my Champion. Of course I will train and guide you before you can become one and you have a chance to live eternally if you succeed. I can't tell you any more details on what comes after your choice."
"What happens to my people? Friends? Family? Can I return after finishing whatever your task is?"
"The 'Task' will take a few millennia to be finished. You can judge based on that if you even want to return and the rest of the mortals meanwhile, will continue their eternal cycle of birthing, fighting and rotting in their own filth. Now, I have answered all your questions patiently. Make your choice. Just say yes and you will live a life of abundance, wonder, adventure and fulfillment as my Champion."
The man once again feels the mysterious force compelling him to agree with the god. He struggles with copious amounts of cold sweat drenching his face as he resists the urge to prostrate and agree to all her whims.
'Whatever rules by which this entity operates, considering she seems to need an agreement from me, it can't possibly be okay to use such insane mind powers. I can't go with such an entity no matter what. My memories of some of my family are even being forcibly jumbled. I need to reject her while I still remember.'
He doubled down on his efforts to resist her and spoke out his answer.
After a good minute of struggling, he gets a grip and is finally able to push out his answer.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
"I....I Do-..Don't Ag--ree! Pl-lease ret-u..."
"Oh! you DON'T agree?? ah... too bad. I took your silence for agreement and have already warped us both away. It's a shame but you don't have a choice now do you?" She replies in faux concern.
"What?!! You can't do that!"
"But oh I already did. Mistakes happen. No point bawling over spoilt milk or however the saying goes."
The man shudders and goes pale. He's shaking from fear.
'Whatever this entity is, this thing is unhinged! There was no reasoning with it to begin with! What now??'
"You need to-.."
Before he finishes his words, the goddess makes a hand gesture and radiates the golden light in a blinding flash and right after that, the scenery changes from a white void to momentarily showing the familiar Sun and a small orb of blue, surrounded by space all around before it zooms away in an indescribable warped tunnel, showing various unfamiliar visuals of stars, nebulae and entire massive galaxies zooming by, distorting in weird ways and shifting in shapes that should not be possible with only 3-dimensions.
----------------------------------------
After an intense sense of vertigo and projectile vomiting, the previous night's instant Ramen dinner, the man slowly comes back to his senses and stands up to look around. They are now once again standing in space with stars all around them but they're clearly not in his own galaxy anymore. He could spot 2 stars in close proximity, presumably a twin star system in a tight orbit around each other.
He slowly directs his gaze back to the goddess and says, "W- We only warped just then didn't we? Were you lying before to stall for time so that you can warp me before I reject you?"
*Giggle*
In response, the goddess giggles and just stares at him with a sharp gaze.
"Now that we're already here, there is no point in rejecting anymore. Simply agree and enjoy your stay. No point in throwing a tantrum at this point," she says with a condescending smirk.
"But why.....?"
"Now, now, calm down. Like I said, I've already spent the enormous amounts of energy I had been rationing for the warp already. No point in crying now. There is no longer a safe way for you to travel back."
"Hehe! To think that stupid system gave a great find such as you, a score even below 100, I have to thank the incompetent system admin. Hehehe!!", she said all the while keeping her eyes locked on to him, staring in delight. As if he is a toy a child finally bought after saving up for a while.
The man was flabbergasted at her response and terrified at the prospect that he couldn't return back to his people anymore.
'Is this it? Can I never see her again? never speak to my family again??'
'Wait...she said 'safe way'. Does that mean there is a slightly risky way??'
"You said the safe way, does that mean there is a slightly risky way? If so, I WISH TO RETURN!!"
The expression of the goddess slowly turned cold at that as she stared daggers at him and an oppressing feeling engulfed the man as he was barely hanging on against it.
"Hump! You don't know what's good for you! There is a good chance that you will perish for nothing in a most gruesome way. Do you still wish to return with that method? You should reconsider."
'The chance isn't small? sounds like I will most likely die with that unsafe method. But wait! Why should I believe her? I feel like this bitch has been doing nothing but manipulation since my unfortunate encounter with her. She is probably lying.'
"Like I've said already, I wish to return back. I do not agree to your proposal and never did. take me back to my old life and leave me be!!!"
The cold expression on the goddess shifts to an enraged one.
"You fool! You don't know what you've done. Now that you've said it out loud, you've just made this whole thing very expensive for me and you have sealed your death."
"Wha-What?? You're still unwilling to send me back??"
"Hmp! What made you think I was ever going to waste so much resources on you for no benefit of mine? Now, only letting you meet your end due to 'unforeseen accidents' on arrival, remains. Now get out of my sight you waste!"
"Wha-WHat?? Wa- "
----------------------------------------
As he wakes up from a momentary Black out, for the third time in a day, he only feels gale force winds all around and couldn't open his eyes.
'Or can this even be considered the same day technically?'
He desperately flails around to find something around him so he can identify his surroundings. Only to find that he couldn't touch anything, even with his feet, meaning, he is free falling.
As his sense of balance comes back and the realisation fully hits him, he starts panicking.
'WTF is it now?!! I don't want to die yet. I have finally turned my life around...No, Can't panic. Can't panic! Got to calm down!'
The whole roller coaster of emotions happening within 2 seconds of him waking, he is able to cling to rational thought, letting his childhood's pre thought-out protocol of 'operation emergency plane jump survival guide’ take over.
He first arrests his tumbling the best he can and manages to open his eyes a sliver by guarding them with his hands and fingers.
'Okay, that's pretty high, even higher than from an overseas flight. huh? but then how am I conscious? Shouldn't the oxygen be too low here?..No! focus!'
"Control yourself ADHD! Not the time!'
'So, I have more than 3 and half minutes. Plenty of time. Plenty!.'
Plenty to do what, even he didn't dare think too much about.
'First, this is clearly a shitty Isekai. That Goddess also mentioned the word system in passing. So, maybe I have some way to solve the situation there.'
"System"
"My profile"
"huh? ...[Status] !"
Status Identity : Finlay Male 31 Yrs Science guy Job : None --- Cultivation : None --- Stats : -> Click to expand <- Skills :
None
Extras : Isekai Entry Package; Basic Guide to the system, Basic Guide to the world, Basic guide to the objectives of your god.
"Woah! That's .... how I expected I suppose."
But nothing seems useful. No skills either.
'Wait what's that blinking thing in Extras?...'Isekai Entry Package'? what's that?'
He wills it to look into that option and a sub menu shows up.
Isekai Entry Package : The goddess herself custom made this for you. Hope you have a fulfilling time :) Skill - Language Comprehension - Universal : Grade A+; With this very high grade skill, you can navigate high level conversations and written scripture in most current languages of the world. Only a few experienced scholars can match you. Skill - Identify : Grade C; Pretty useful skill in an alien world. C grade is where it really starts showing its power. Good job working your way up to here. Skill - Mana Blast : Grade F; Self descriptive. Blast some mana (unrefined world qi) in a direction of choice for some force. Pitiful grade though. You have somehow bumbled your way into obtaining the skill, it's just a waste of menu real estate for now. Gloves of miniscule strength : Meh... Food : Extravagant meal, amazing portions, an average person could probably eat it for 3 meals. Special magic was cast on it. Doesn't spoil as long as it is in the inventory. Clothes :
Very Expensive, uses High quality materials. All style but little substance. You could have had B class armour with similar resources. What kind of an idiot are you to waste them on this? Accept | Decline
"Accept! I accept"
As soon as he saw the mana blast skill, hope reignited within him and he was ready to use it as soon as he reached a bit closer to the ground.
After a minute, the atmosphere was clearly denser but still there was a bit less than half way to go.
'Ideally, a suicide burn would be the most efficient but I don't know how strong the skill will be. I need to check it. Maybe I will use it once to see.'
"Activate [Mana Blast]"
Something rushed through the vessels in his arms and legs that were facing the ground before a shockwave of wind was sent away from his body.
'Tha- That wasn't too bad. I felt a good deceleration from that. I think I might survive this!', he rejoiced.
When he felt like the ground was about 2 km away, he got a bit tense and decided to bring his speed down to half to test the timing.
"[Mana Blast] [Mana Blast] [Mana Blast]..."
He kept shouting the skill but only after a couple more blasts, a headache started at the front of his head. The third one gave him enough pain to almost pass out but his speed was slowed down significantly.
The fourth however did not give out any blast. It felt like pulling the trigger on an empty gun. The skill did not work anymore.
"WTF?!! why isn't it working?!!"
After a quick check through his status, he noticed a particularly concerning stat under the stats submenu.
Mana : -1/25 (Mana deficiency. Rest is recommended)
"God dammit!! I don't want to die!!...."
----------------------------------------
Sounds of muffled voices and grunts wake him up from a Blackout, for the 4th time on the same day.
He slowly opens his eyes, to find himself on a cosy bed, to some warm candle light. As he comes back to his senses and looks around, the surroundings are a bit darker due it only being lit but candles and a single fireplace.
He is not alone though. He notices some figures around him. They also notice that he is awake. They stop their discussion and turn towards him.
"Who- Who are you?"
"Ah! Welcome! Our Champion!", a nerdy looking man answers his question with a kind smile on his face.
'Gods dammit! Not again!!'.
To be continued