Dennisan, the name of the world i was born in, and the name of the god that ruled over it in his own, odd way. He was known to everyone in our world as the God of Knowledge but to the many gods and other visitors to our plane he was known by a much less flattering moniker.
The God of Hoarding, every person in our world is required upon reaching a certain age, to go on a pilgrimage to another world and bring something back with them from that world. It can’t be an item but a skill, or some knowledge that isn’t already stored in the Archives of the Crystal Tower. To help with this great task every person is given what Dennisan calls the ‘Grand System’ something of his own design which is very bare bones when we first receive it.
We are given a ‘Status Screen, a ‘Skill Screen’’, a ‘Shop Screen’, and an ‘Achievement Screen’ here it would be easier to show you my Status wouldn’t it?
Name| Max Cynn
Level| 1
STR: 16
VIT: 16
MAG: 11
AGI: 21
RES: 12
At the moment it’s pretty straightforward, I have a level, and some stats and that’s it. But things get a little more convoluted once you get into the Shop screen… We can increase the capabilities of our individual systems by spending AP, or Achievement Points, to buy Systems and skills, whatever is in the Crystal Tower Archives we can purchase if we have enough AP.
I was born to a pretty mediocre family so my starting AP total was marginal at birth and I haven’t even spent what I was born with yet! I figured that if i was going to be going on a pilgrimage then I should save it and buy what i needed to survive that world once I landed. The reason i’m even telling you all of this is because today is my 16th birthday and this is the day that I’ll be sent out on my pilgrimage, I don’t know what world i’ll end up in, it could be fantasy, steampunk… anything at all and that terrifies me, i could land in a world run by giant man eating cucumbers for all I know.
All I know is that I have my last 16 birthdays worth of AP saved up and i hope… that’s enough for me to survive.
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Standing before the giant yawning portal of violet light didn’t ease my terror at all, it just made it seem like at any time I could be grabbed by errant tentacles and dragged off into whatever cosmos forsaken place it decided to drop me in. I looked up at our leader and god sitting on his throne idly twirling a D20 on his index finger and whistling. He wasn’t unspeakably beautiful or anything in fact he was almost painfully plain, he had messy black hair and eyes with tired looking bags under them that just caused to make his already pale gaunt face even more unhealthy he was wearing a pair of pajama pants and a simple white tee shirt, but every time I looked away and looked back at him the pants design had changed, going from dancing fruits to space ships, to dragons.
I knew what the D20 was for, I had watched my older sisters pilgrimage a few years back, it was what determined the world you went to, apparently some of the older folks remember when Dennisan used to hand pick each world we went to but it seems like he just stopped caring or found it too troublesome at some point and decided random chance was the way to go. “Well Mr. Cynn I believe we’ve kept you waiting in suspense long enough.” Spoke the tired looking god in his scratchy voice. “Let’s roll the dice.” his mouth quirked up in a little grin and he tossed the die from his index finger down to the ground at my feet.
The clattering seemed to be almost in slow motion for me as it rolled and bounced, only to stop as it reached between my feet and landed on a symbol of a crossed revolver and sword. “Well don’t send em often to worlds like that, have fun!” And like I had imagined tentacles spewed out of the portal, wrapped around my body and pulled me through into the violet abyss. I was being dragged for what felt like hours before I felt my body thud into the pure white floor in front of a desk.
“Well can’t say I’ve seen many people arrive by tentacle before.” Giggled a voice from above me, and when I looked up I saw someone that had visited my world before. I stood as fast as I could, dusted myself off and bowed at the waist.
“Goddess Avida, I had no idea your world would be the one of my pilgrimage.” I spoke with reverence to the dark haired goddess in front of me and smiled plainly, she was one of the few goddess’ that visited our world for more than just access to the Crystal Tower.
“Oh my one of Dennisan’s brood hmm?~ I must say I’ve been worried about when one of you troublemakers would show up.” She teased as she lifted up her clipboard. “Well as you know even if you’re here on pilgrimage you must complete a task before you can go back, it just so happens that my world keeps getting passed over for a hero so you’re just in time!” Her grin, while beautiful, was full of sinister intent and relief oddly enough.
“I know ma’am, what is threatening your world at the moment? Is it still the Dragon you spoke of last time?” She liked to tell stories of her own people running face first into that dragon and failing to save their own world though not for lack of trying, or lack of high explosives.
“Actually no, Gavarenth decided being evil was too troublesome and he just chills out and protects one of the kingdoms when they get attacked. No some guy calling himself a ‘Demon Lord’ showed up and has been causing trouble, thing is I don’t know where he came from and he’s pretty powerful, even Gavarenth won’t go against him.” She sighed and her shoulder slumped. “But enough about that, you know your job now let me just give you a little gift! This will be the system I’m contributing to the Crystal Tower, Ciao!~”
Her finger touched my forehead and I fell unconscious, only to wake up face down on the ground again, though at least this time it was soft grass rather than the hard white floor of the God Office. My eyes rose to meet a sign planted in the ground in front of me. “Welcome to Ascetburg, The Town of Beginnings.”