This revelation of their future didn’t make any disturbance between already petrified figures. Robert could bet that despite not being able to move, no one from them would make any fuss after hearing that. He didn’t know what trait or feature could unite them in their unvoiced purpose, but this self-proclaimed God had directly spoken about the death of the weak. You didn’t need to be a genius to understand that referred to willpower or something similar. In addition, without the possibility to change anything, he once again preferred just to follow the flow and listen. Especially, when the mighty entity hadn’t even tried to create any kind of mystery and literally began with explanations.
“We need to start from the beginning. There are around a hundred thousand dimensions. A huge amount, but not endless. Basically, each dimension is a unique world that can have different rules of nature, size, form, etc. There are lots of variants. Some are in the form of star systems with planets. Some look like endless flat Earths with borders further than the distance from the star to the habitable planet from the previous example. Some are countless floating islands in the cosmos. Among some similarities are non-existent while others are almost like blood brothers. What unites them all are the following factors: dimensions have definite sizes, they are centered around a single place of life, they are indestructible, and they have rulers – Gods.”
Hmm, so all scientists who were looking for life in the universe for decades did a senseless job… However, what about our non-friendly invaders?
“Gods, like me, are transcended entities that live between dimensions. We don’t have the ability to create worlds, but we can conquer them to become their rulers. Gods can unite in this mission, thus forming pantheons, or do it singlehandedly. Ruling the world not only strengthens gods but also gives them the possibility to adjust some natural laws to their personal liking. There are limitations, but no need to go too deep into them. The main point - the stronger the world, the stronger the ruler.”
So, Gods have limited resources in the form of worlds. That will definitely lead to wars. Okay, could we all be future soldiers of such wars then?
“Of course, nothing stops another God from trying to conquer someone’s world, but that doesn’t make a task an easy one. Gods can’t descend to the world and can’t directly kill the opponent. The battles for the crown are the battles of adjusting the world’s laws and giving blessings between parties. Briefly, that in most cases leads to global apocalypses where a ruler tries to save his civilization, while an invader wants to wipe it out. The invader chooses a scenario of attack, which could be anything from natural disasters and diseases to direct invasion of his forces from a controlled world. The defender can make some countermeasures to help the inhabitants of the world. Both can give direct blessings to creatures, the environment, or even the world’s law, but they are limited in power and fully depend on aspects of gods. The end of the battle gives quite long, although temporary, immunity to recover from the consequences of the attack. However, sometimes the damage is so significant that both parties can abandon the dimension and look for another one, while new life will blossom in a devastated world. And it will, nothing can stop it.”
Apocalypse? If it’s true… and don’t see why it is not… then dinosaurs, mythological Atlantis, Ragnarok, Pompeii, Noah’s Flood, and many more… just wow… damn, and quite possibly this damned swarm is sent by some bastard to take over the Earth. Hope our ruler can kick the invader’s ass! Because fuck him!
“You need to understand it because you will be sent to such worlds that are battlegrounds of Gods. But do know that you will not be on any side as I don’t need, nor do I want any world to control. You can’t grasp my real power with your limited mind, but my main aspects are hunting the prey to devour its soul in an attempt to weaken an eternal hunger. There are many Gods like me that don’t directly participate in battles but send their envoys with different tasks. Yours would be quite an easy one – just to kill. Quantity can make it too, but it’s much better to target strong creatures. Each death by your hands will give their soul to me to devour. With enough contribution, I will grant you a blessing that will increase your power so you can hunt stronger prey. From my experience, the most valuable possibilities are exactly during the confrontation with Gods. They tend to create their champions who are truly delicious.”
After Robert heard that, he felt unrest. From a positive point, he hadn’t died. Moreover, he had real possibility not only to live longer but also to see unimaginable places and maybe even creatures. After years of training and war, the goal of killing couldn’t make him feel uncomfortable. He did have that goal already from the beginning, nothing new. From others – with his weak constitution and zero combat skills besides his army specialization, Robert wondered if he could even survive his very first world. Damn, he could control machines only through the interface and hadn’t tried it with his own hands even once. Rob never used his fists, never shot from a rifle, and never got proper physical training. He was just an operator in the end, not an infantry. Another good question was - what would signify the end of the world and what was the process of evacuation? How would God decide when it was time to move to the next dimension?
More and more questions flooded Robert’s mind. Recalling his versions of apocalypses, he understood that fighting skills were not enough. If it was a huge tsunami, he would need at least to know how to swim on proper level skill – his ability to just stay on the surface might be not enough. Hell, everything from possible consequences of natural disasters could kill him – coldness, hunger, dehydration, illness, and many more. His sole hope was on that blessing but if he could only get one after making enough contribution, then it wouldn’t help, leaving him powerless and helpless.
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I feel I completely don’t fit in the role of an assassin who wanders through an apocalypse in search of strong enemies. Like not even close…
“Now, I see most of us wonder why you have been chosen. The reason is simple. From time to time, I mark some natives with potential in worlds with the upcoming battle for the crown. If they survive long enough to kill a noticeable number of creatures, then after death I take them here for the next step of testing their strength of soul. Not all can endure reincarnation or the blessing, but if they can, they have the ability to become my envoy. However, to become a true one, you need to make it through the first world with enough merits. Or else I will disperse the worthless. You do need to understand that you are not the first batch and definitely not the last one. I have around a thousand envoys or candidates right now, but most of them can’t make it past the first few worlds. Still, for you, this is a possibility to prolong your life. Nevertheless, if someone wants it, I can end it now… Very well, your wish is granted. I do not need unmotivated.”
Almost without pause, several figures were turned to dust just to be sucked into the maw of the god in a moment. One of them was a tattooed monk, while others were on the periphery of his eyesight and couldn’t be seen properly. Robert mentally sighed at those strange decisions. Maybe for them, life already had given enough so they didn’t want to prolong it. Or their principles were more important. Or… there could be many different reasons why to refuse. However, for Rob it was easy. He had seen far too little not to try to do everything to prolong his existence. He didn’t want to surrender easily. He didn’t want to surrender at all.
“As a candidate to envoy you were already changed by me. Your body is merged with your soul and can’t be divided. You wouldn’t have any second chance for reincarnation and if you die, you die. On the other hand, it would be harder for you to die – only critical damage to the brain or heart will kill you. Any wounds will be completely healed in some time because the soul is eternal. But if you damage it, your body will be hurt as well. They can get stronger together and they will weaken together.”
So, I can get at least some regeneration. I wonder how long it takes to recover from a bone fracture – "some time" sounds very vague… Plus, what will happen with a stuck bullet inside the body? Not sure if it’s good to close the wound while leaving something inside. Questions, questions…
“Humans are the most common sapient life form through all dimensions so you wouldn’t have any problem. In addition, you are already granted with ability to communicate with others despite not knowing the language because there are no barriers between souls.”
That’s quite cool. To die in the new world because you can’t say “peace” will be a shame. The real question is about metric quantities, time differences, set expressions, language rules of seniority, cultural differences, and many other things that can lead to huge problems of misunderstanding. Gestures, again. Does it cover it? Hope so.
“And last, but not least - you will get one personal blessing from me to choose together with the universal status screen. This status can show a numerical description of body parameters and doesn’t include anything related to knowledge. It is in some way very vague because creatures can have noticeable differences from being the mechanical type of life or living plant to spiritual or elemental existences. It is straightforwardly standard with each additional point in the parameter being stronger by ten percent on average than the previous. It shows your progress. Precisely your own growth makes numbers increase and not vice versa. Although, there is one God who enjoys using the latter system… The main purpose of this status screen is not to give you an understanding of your own power level, but for Gods to easier classify or deal with their subordinates. Now to blessing.”
Guess, I had read too much fiction, but the first thought of such a status screen made me imagine level-ups, skills, or abilities from proclaimed classes or even in-built shops together with roulette for prizes. And now it turns out this strange fitness tracker is used to sort us, crap. Don’t think I need to see my status to know that my body is pathetically weak. It’s crystal clear to me already. Or is it used to compare the length of manhood between status holders or maybe gods about their available forces? Ok, Rob, less skepticism. Maybe it will be useful, but don’t forget that nothing is for free in real life.
“The souls I devour with the hands of my envoys might be bestowed to you. It will give your body some abilities or powers of that soul. Of course, together with possible weak points or limitations. Each such process stresses your essence heavily so it can’t be repeated frequently, and you need to be strong enough to endure the procedure. You can’t be merged with a soul that has much more potential than you. Otherwise, you will become a brainless abomination, which I don’t need, so I will dispose of such failures. The opportunity to be blessed must be earned with your deeds. The better your merits, the more you will have options to choose. With enough, you can even ask for a specific soul. Now, choose!”
At least a blessing sounds promising. I without any doubt will need extraordinary or even divine help to survive fucking apocalypses! Oh, calm down, calm down, Rob. Focus. What else was told? New blessing in exchange for kills. Need to keep it in mind but firstly – survival. Also, options are possibly limited. If there are such a crazy number of worlds, the number of different types of souls will be huge. Therefore, definitely some kind of limitation.
To Robert’s surprise, suddenly he felt he could move. Looking around he found that most of his involuntary colleagues were wandering around small circles that still restricted them. Stretching both his arms on opposite sides, he touched the invisible walls with the tips of his fingers. Still, any ability to move was much better than the complete absence of it. However, quite a few candidates for killing in the name of a God had completely ignored this freedom and were touching their forearms or staring blankly before them. Not wasting time, Rob rolled up the sleeve of his uniform only to find a new tattoo there.
“I was dishonored without my knowledge,” he tried to joke, but no sound came from his mouth, so Robert redirected his attention to the image of an open maw, inside which was some kind of whirlpool that consisted of vague figures.
These are souls. Very creepy. But… what else will you expect from literally the Devourer?