It was late. Really late. Technically early really. The moon was beginning to set and it wouldn’t be long now till the sun began to rise. Yesterday had been the 4th of July and of course, I hadn’t gotten any sleep at all. Fireworks were just way too loud! …also I had been up all night playing with fireworks but honestly, who cared about the small details like that it was my own fault. No, the night had come and gone and I had wanted to go to bed but some idiots were out shooting their guns. And boy, that was loud as hell. So nope, no sleep for me tonight, but that was fine.

I was currently out in the woods, well, kinda. It was a little log cabin I had rented for the week. A nice quiet place to blow the hell out of a bunch of pure unadulterated Big Booms! It had been awesome but now, I was kinda tired. And those dang gunshots weren’t letting up one bit!

Boom. Boom. Boom.

What, did someone die?! Why are there so many? It’s 4am! Go to bed!

Boom. Boom.

Boom.

Pain. Pain. Pain pain pain pain.

My entire world was numbness and pain. I looked down at my chest from where I was laying. Blood, so much blood. Wh-at?

Blood, blood blood blood, pain, focus. The gun shot. They were shooting their guns up into the air and one of the bullets must have fallen. My chest was red. So much red. Red red red. I was bleeding out and holy shit, do humans have that much blood? I tried to get out of bed and slammed into the ground. Weak. I felt so weak. Everything was starting to go numb now, even the pain. So, so weak. The life was draining out of my body. I had never felt so weak before. Moving a finger felt like lifting a mountain. I was in shock, the full reality hadn’t hit me yet, my mind was burning. I was going to die. I was going to die.

I was going to die.

With shaking hands, I drew on the wooden floor boards with my own blood. Family, friends, they’re going to find me. Find my dead body. I can’t, I can’t make them worry. Can’t let them worry.

I I

︶

Love yo

Weak. Too weak. Can’t finish it. Those will just have to be my final words. Love yo. Ha. Haha. Hahaha. Hahaha!

Hahahaha

Haha

ha hah haaa

aaah

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HAHAHA!

I woke up, laughing my ass off, taking in deep breaths of air like a maniac. It was a full, belly shaking laugh, from the depths of my soul. It took a while for it to subside to realize I wasn’t dying. I was, I was alive? I felt tears falling from my eyes in shock as I looked down at my hands. No blood, no pain, no unearthly feeling of numbness and weakness as my very life drains away from me. As I feel myself edge towards oblivion. No, no awful reality where I’m dead.

Also, why was I naked?

“Greetings Godling.”

“Huh?!”

I looked up and my eyes practically bulged out of my skull because what I was looking at was crazy. Before me, there was an angelic looking woman. She looked like she was dressing up in cosplay but if so I didn’t know who it was. Also, well, she had wings. White wings. The more I looked the more my jaw dropped. She was, a powerfully striking figure. A golden chain tiara in her hair with a singular teardrop deep blue jewel, four white wings in an X shape across her back, wearing an extremely unusual mix of white and golden… silk panties and a bra? But as if to also spit in the face of that, she wore Metal gauntlets. She was showing so much skin, I wouldn’t be surprised if she told me she was going to a beach. And that didn’t even touch on her eyes. Those were not normal pupils and the deep blue color to match the few gems on her body was not lost on me.

It was like waking up and seeing an anime character come to life and it was extremely disorientating.

“What?”

She just chuckled.

“Hello Godling. You have been chosen to undergo a Challenge. The challenge of ascending to Godhood. You are a special case since you are the first to undergo this challenge with memories of a past life. Usually, this sort of rite uses fresh souls, but due to a God’s suggestion we decided to change the premise a bit.”

I felt like I had just been slapped across the face. No introductions, no real explanations, the second I die I’m being told about Gods and Godhood? And what was that she called me, a Godling? My brain felt like it was close to imploding. There hadn’t, there hadn’t been any time. Peaceful life, pain, blood, dying, now godhood stuff. It all, it all was a singular mixed event in my head. No different from getting run over by a train multiple times in a few seconds, your brain won’t separate it all into separate events.

And it was all becoming way way too much for me. I wasn’t ready for this. I wasn’t capable of this. I needed, fucking god, I needed time. I needed a second to fucking breathe. What the hell was going on anymore?!

“Ah, since you’re still conscious, I should introduce myself and the other gods, as it would be rude not to. I, One of the Two True Gods, or progenitor gods, am called Chaos, Change, Erosion, while the other Progenitor is called Order, Stagnation, Calmness.

We both made our challenges or rituals for our creations to become fellow gods and to help shape the worlds that we Two Progenitors make. All the other Gods were fellow Godlings that have ascended and took their place, as maybe you might too.

Why you were chosen, you may wonder. Well, you seemed to be in need, is the reason why. Anyway, lets see what your death has empowered you with. Oh right, I forgot to tell you, but you are dead.”

As she moved to go do, something, my mind rebelled. It rebelled at all of this nonsense.

“SHUT. UP!”

She looked like I had slapped her.

“I just fucking died! Give me a minute here! What the fuck?! What the hell?! I can’t just, I’m a pretty happy go lucky guy but dying is kinda traumatic you know?! I can’t just go and be like “ah yes, of course, all of the things you just said make total sense and now let’s keep going” like, what?! Just, just give me a few minutes.”

I collapsed to the ground, holding my head in my hands. Way too much, too much. Need a moment. God, gods, I need a moment. My head is pounding. I didn’t even look at… her.

The minutes passed by. Some of the innate pressure in my head, that maelstrom, died down into a gentle wave. It came slowly. First, the acceptance of my death. That was the most immediate thing here and next was the whole, thing here.

I had died. Well and truly died. This was the afterlife, the realm of the Gods and souls and stuff. No, no, I had to focus here. I had died. A shudder of fear went through me. I had died, dead, gone, no longer here, went to go live on a farm. I was, gone. But I wasn’t. But I hardly expected to wake up again and be back seeing my friends and family any time soon. I was, estranged in a way. Death wasn’t an oblivion, which helped ease away the tension. I was dead, in name only. Only by pure technicality. All the important facets of being alive, of being capable and sentient, were still right here. I was still, alive. In my own way.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I let out a giant, massive, sigh of relief.

I was dead but alive in the ways that count. Dead was just, apparently, a state of being. Like, like being cold or warm. Alive was more than that. It was your totality until you cease to be and exist. I let that pure feeling of relief flow through me for a while but I couldn’t shake the next part those words had unlocked in me.

I was only ‘alive’ because someone changed the rules around here a little bit. Otherwise I’d be just as dead as anyone else. Okay, okay me, time to tackle the next thing.

Godling, after life, potential godhood. That was, strangely easy to accept. I mean, I was dead and still alive at the same time. Dying and there being Gods? Easy stuff by comparison, everyone knows either there’s nothing or something on the other side and turns out… there’s definitely something here after all.

I couldn’t quite, get a grip, on the whole being a god thing. It was too, abstract. It was just, there. But what I could get a grip on? This wasn’t a nice easy package deal. This was a Challenge, with a capital C. That’s what the Goddess in front of me had said. Oh shit, The Goddess!

I looked up and she was staring at me in… guilt? What? Huh?

“Godling, I apologize. I didn’t mean to overwhelm you. We don’t get many passing souls here and the bounds of mortality have long left us. I didn’t realize how hard it would be on you to pass on.”

“Uh, no no! I, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have blown up at you! I promise, I’m not usually that kinda guy! It was just all, a bit too much ya know?”

I felt like a lame boyfriend that had yelled at his girlfriend. Gah! What type of guy was I?!

Still, Chaos(???), smiled and seemed relieved.

“All is well Godling. Would you like to continue to see how your death has empowered you?”

“Uh, sure?”

I mean, hell, becoming stronger through dying seems pretty neat. But… stronger for what exactly?

“Different elements play a part in what will lead to a soul’s empowerment through death. For starters, there’s The Reason.”

She waved her hand and The Reason came back in full details. I saw a bullet leaving a gun and traveling through the air, before it finally landed, going through my roof and hitting my body. I grimaced hard, that was me only moments ago and it was clear it had struck right next to my heart. Hell, maybe it actually struck my heart, I wasn’t a doctor. The ‘view’ panned back to the gun wielder and it was clear he was just shooting for fun. It wasn’t anyone I recognized and honestly, I felt no malice towards the guy. We all make mistakes. His were dumber than most but, well, that was life.

“An accident. How unfortunate. It seems bad luck caught you and ended your life. It seems you’ve obtained the Danger Sense skill.”

I blinked. Bad luck huh? Well, I guess that was all it really was. But Danger Sense? That sounded entirely too useful. If I had had that a few minutes ago, I’d probably still be alive huh? Guess that was the reason I had “earned” it. Still, I don’t think I wanna actually need it but I have a bad feeling about the future…

“Next is The Time.”

My vision swam again but this time it was a view of outside my house. It was night, dark, dusk, but the moon was slowly falling and soon the sun would be rising. It wasn’t quite sunrise so I wouldn’t really know what to call the time myself. Uh, super early morning?

“Moonset. You died right as the moon was falling to its nadir. With this timing, you’ve obtained the Magic Skill (Dark).”

My eyes widened for a number of reasons. For starters, there is absolutely no way moonset is a real thing, she just made that up. Secondly, what on earth is nadir? And third, MAGIC?! Oh boy, dying was the best possible thing to ever happen to me. And wait, Darkness magic? So I could like, uhhhh. Make, shadow clones maybe? Wait no. Make things dark? Well, I’m sure I’ll figure it out!

“Your magical skill will start at Tier 2.”

No idea what that meant but before I could ask, she continued.

“Next, The How.”

I gritted my teeth. I really hoped I wasn’t about to see what I was about to see. But of course, reality was cruel. So very cruel at times. I saw the bullet fall and enter into my body and then, in X-ray, saw it as it landed right next to my heart, piercing an artery. My blood left my body in great gouts and I felt sick to my stomach. Luckily, the vision ended before I saw myself fully die.

“Blood loss via a speeding object. You’ve gained Enhanced Healing and Physical Resistance (Piercing) at Tier 1.”

Okay, now I really needed to ask about this Tier stuff.

“Wait, wait, wait. What are, what even are skills? What are tiers? What are, is, any of this?”

She smiled at me, in sympathy and shame. A very, strong reaction that I wasn’t expecting from a stranger I had really just met basically.

“I will explain it all, I promise you, but for now, it’s best if we continue forward. There are important choices to be made and reaching the point where you can think about those choices would be best.”

I grumbled but nodded. I wanted to know now but if I actually had decisions to make? Yeah, knowledge could wait a second, at least until I knew what I needed to decide on.

“Thank you Godling.”

“My name is Mark. Or, well, was.”

Does dying make your name change? Questions for later.

“Thank you Mark. This next decision is very important. Very, very important so please listen closely Mark.”

My ears were open and my eyes were laser focused. If a Goddess was telling me to pay attention I was going to pay attention.

“This will be the most important decision you will make. You need to choose a System. A System is what will allow you to ascend to Godhood, if you make it that far. This system will be with you for the rest of your existence. Choose wisely, Mark.”

Alright, game face on. Godhood, system, okay, alright. Methods to become a god. I can do this.

“There are two systems. I will start with the Crowned Monster System.”

“The Crowned Monster System. As a Crowned Monster you Evolve to a newer generation to increase your power. You will start as a Gen 0 monster and must work on your requirements to evolve into a higher generation. How many generations it takes to evolve into a creature worthy of being called a God is up to you and luck. The fastest creature to evolve using this system took roughly 571 years, 7 months, 15 days and 24 minutes. That current god is now the God of Time and works to protect the fabric of time. The average time is around 3000 or so years.”

My head was already rocking. Become a monster? Skills, magic, I wasn’t going to be taking this challenge on earth, that was for sure. But it didn’t seem like I’d be taking whatever challenge this was here either. I was, oh my god. Was I being reincarnated? And I could reincarnate as a monster to become a god. That sounded, insane. I didn’t have a frame of reference but becoming a whole other being? That sounded so, totally crazy to me. And 3000 years on average? My grand total of 25 years wasn’t even worth mentioning in the face of that.

“As a crowned monster, you have access to the special Crown Ability. This allows you to manifest a crown that makes you able to command other creatures. The crown’s appearance is determined by your personality and race, the crown is tied to your soul, and you will only be able to manifest it at most 5 seconds at the start. The stronger you become, the longer you can manifest your crown. Usually by Gen 7, you should be able to manifest your crown for 12 hours at least. This crown can be destroyed. If the crown is destroyed, you die. The power needed to destroy your crown outright would take more strength and effort than just outright killing you. Those of strong will or are stronger than you can resist the commands of the crown.”

Holy crap, that sounded horrifying. Commanding others to do what I say? I mean, there’s a certain form of appeal but not like that. Plus it only seemed to basically work on those weaker than me. That didn’t sound useful. I’d much rather have something that can help me against stuff stronger than me.

Still, this was basically my option 1. Being a monster and continually evolving till I became a god. That was, weird and crazy. But it also sounded pretty amazing. What kind of monsters could I be? A dragon? Could, could I become a freaking dragon? That would be so cool. It might even be worth it. And can’t plenty of fantasy esk monsters become humanoid ish? Maybe I’ll be taking this option but I don’t know. I’ll have to hear the others.

“The second of the two systems, is The Human Hero System.”

“This system is a subsystem of the normal Human System. There are plenty of other Human Sub-systems, like Human King, Human Sage, Human Acolyte, etc. All these systems work in a similar method to the Monster evolution system, with each one working only slightly differently from each other. The Essence of the Human System is by going through classes like a monster evolves through generations, with each class having requirements to fill before you can change it.

Your Hero part of the system comes from the fact that you can see ahead one class tier, what requirements they need, and being able to swap classes at will. Your hero system does allow you to access the other sub systems like the King System, as well.”

Too much information but I knew more was about to slam into me.

“This system comes with the Markings of a Hero. To signify that you are a Hero, a tattoo with wings and halo will be somewhere on your body and will change forms depending on your personality and actions. From the amounts of wings, to the halo turning into horns, in the end it is an indicator of what others see of you and your interaction with the world around you. You will know the location of your Tattoo on your body but where it ends up being is completely random and will always be on your skin. If you show a human your mark, they will instinctively know what you are.”

“Which system will you choose?”

I was feeling really, disassociated at this point. I had all of that happen and then all of this happen, and then was being asked to make a choice. I need, I had to think. This was important.

But, basically, wasn’t it really simple? Human or monster. That seemed pretty easy and simple, but, wait a minute. Something Chaos had said stuck out to me…

“How long does it usually take for people with the Hero system to become a God?”

“On average, 1500 years.”

What?!

“Do, do humans usually live that long?”

She shot me a confused look.

“No.”

Wait, wait a minute.

“Uh, how long will I live with the hero system?”

“Roughly 300 years provided you don’t find a way to increase your lifespan somehow.”

I blinked and my jaw dropped. Wait, wait a minute. Wait a dang minute.

“Doesn’t that mean that most people who become Heros fail?!”

“Almost all Godlings fail.”

That sent a cold shiver down my spine. Right, most people who probably go do this challenge probably fail and die. But, but I’d have to figure out how to what, quadruple my lifespan? Could I do that? I mean I’d have 300 years but, is that enough?

“How many people who have taken the Hero System managed to increase their lifespan that far?”

“Roughly 15% have managed to increase their lifespan to the average time it takes to achieve Godhood.”

I grimaced. On top of an already hard challenge, I’d have to do that. How many years would it take to maybe be part of that 15%? I was assuming I was better than 85% of the people that had ever chosen the Hero system? No way.

“What about monsters? How many people manage to increase their lifespan with the Crowned Monster system?”

“As long as you continually evolve, your lifespan is functionally immortal as a monster. Less than 1% of Crowned Monsters have gone out of their way to increase their lifespan.”

That, that was amazing. And really made my choice easy for me. I needed all the help I could get.

“I choose the Crowned Monster System.”

For the first time, Chaos absolutely beamed at me.

“Excellent! Now, let’s begin.”

And then came all the answers I was seeking. And Gods and Goddesses, it was just as overwhelming as before. But it was answers.

Where to even begin in my own head? For starters, I was told that I’d start as a Gen 0 monster. Every time I evolved, I’d go up in Generation. I couldn’t de-evolve or evolve into something I had previously been, but I could evolve into a lower Generation monster while going up a Gen myself. So I could go from Super cool omega monster and down to rat but I’d still be Gen 20 or etc.

And that mattered, a lot. Because stats were a thing. Even if I went back down to Rat, I’d still have the stats of a super monster. I’m sure I’ll have to deal with that eventually so it was good to know that evolution down didn’t necessarily make you weaker.

To evolve, I needed to meet my astra requirements and whatever requirements for that evolution. Astra was, astra was apparently really important. It was, lifeforce? Soul power? Everyone generated it and older monsters and people had more of it. When Humans hit their astra limits, they died. Astra apparently caused things to age. Monsters however, usually had a cap of some sorts. I would not. That didn’t make me safe though, if I generated too much Astra, I’d basically explode and die. So, that was a ticking time clock but I also needed high levels of astra in order to evolve. Stronger evolutions generally required more, much more. It was life force, soul power, and evolution energy all rolled up into one.

The requirements were only interesting because Chaos mentioned there were hidden evolutions. This meant that I needed to find them, asap. Those hidden evolutions could be the difference between life and death where I was going. There wasn’t any information on unlocking them, but the requirements could be convoluted and annoyingly, anything. Still, there were some ideas from my days playing video games that were giving me some early ideas on what could be what. I’d hopefully figure something out.

And that was, it? Not really, Chaos talked for a long while and I knew there was some information that just didn’t sound relevant till I was in that particular situation but overall, that was it. Now came only one more decision.

Chaos looked at me.

“So, what monster will you become?”

I looked at the 8 options with excitement and apprehension.