While I was flying to Skattgjöld, I took the opportunity to see how the Dragon God System was working. Surprisingly, more than a few of the clerics and necromancers from the Necropolis had used magic items as sacrificial offerings. Unsurprisingly, those magic items had been mostly those types of magic items that I had no particular interest in possessing. What pleased me the most was that a few of them had become passing followers.
What didn’t please me was the fact that I actually had to stop what I was doing over the last few days to Identify and appraise a few of those magic items for the Dragon God System. Even though I had spent a lot of faith points in raising its intelligence, I still had to help a lot. Hopefully, that would change after I was able to increase its intelligence after I gathered enough faith points.
As expected, most of the draconic points that they “earned” this way were used to purchase draconic features like darkvision and wings. However, what surprised me the most was the fact that the Find Familiar - Pseudodragon ritual turned out to be the most purchased item in the system. In fact, a vast majority of the people used their draconic points to make that purchase.
This confused me. From what I knew about pseudodragons, they would act a lot like a cat. Pseudodragons would often be haughty and vain. They would even mistreat the wizard. However, they were still showered with love. When modifying the Find Familiar spell, I had taken this into account and given them similar habits in addition to their abilities. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that these pseudodragons were so popular.
Because they were so popular, I decided to find a way to double down on the familiars. For one, I would create an upgraded ritual that could create additional pseudodragon familiars. Generally, it was impossible for wizards to have more than one familiar. Also, I could create some type of special blood bead that could be fed to the pseudodragon to increase its power. One thing that didn’t surprise me was that every single kobold had also purchased a pseudodragon familiar as soon as they were finished frolicking in the warm pools.
Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like I was earning a lot of faith points from the clerics and necromancers even though they were using the system. While it was true, I was earning more than enough to make the Dragon God’s System successful, I wasn’t seeing a large increase in experience points yet. Most of the sacrificial offerings were gold or magic items that weren’t needed any longer. The biggest earnings I had were actually from the kobolds, who because the system gave them a way in which they could become a dragon, created zealot believers. This dramatically increased the number of faith points they provided to me.
As for the experience, only a few individuals had started testing out this feature of the system. Still, I held out hopes that more people would start to focus on this option. I definitely needed experience. Being the weakest god was actually kind of unsettling. I was always worried that some god would show up at any moment.
The biggest surprise was the undead who had been given the system. Almost none of the ghosts or skeletons chose to use the Soul Contracts. The liches did choose to use the system, but since there were only a few of them, they didn’t make much of a difference. Annoyed, I tried to figure out where I had gone wrong.
From what I could gather, the undead in the Necropolis were not antagonistic toward the living inhabitants of the city. Most of them had either developed sentience or recovered some of their memories. However, it was like they were stuck in time. They simply walked through the city as if they were guarding it. Perhaps they actually had patrolled the city when they were alive.
I needed to think of something that would motivate the undead. As it was, they saw no need to change since they had survived there for countless centuries. I started trying to imagine what they would want. Finally, I decided to use some of the new faith points my kobold zealots had generously given to me to add a few other choices. One of them was Memory Retrieval, which would allow the undead to remember some of their memories.
Also, I modified the Find Familiar spell to include the changes I had made for the living as well as a change for the undead. The undead version would allow the undead to inhabit the familiar bodies the ritual created. I then created a more powerful version so that after the undead become hooked on walking around as a cat, bird, or whatever familiar form they had chosen, they would be able to create a humanoid form. I then updated all three systems, the undead system, the kobold system, and the regular system.
Since I still had a while left before, I reached the human city, I decided to think about what to do about my divine realm. First, I needed to think about how they were similar as well as how they were different. Hopefully, that would allow me to figure out a way to turn my imitation divine realm into a real divine realm. The biggest difference was that I didn’t control the inside of the realm. The other difference was that I couldn’t enter the realm whenever I wanted.
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I had already used faith points to increase the size. Did it have to meet a certain minimum size? Even if one of the dark gods showed up, I doubted they would be able to help me either. I suspected that I was becoming a god through a backdoor that the system had created. So, maybe I needed to go through the system.
Just on the off chance the system would answer, I asked, “System, how many faith points are needed to upgrade my personal dimensional space into a real divine realm?” As expected, there was no response. Then another thought occurred to me. I had already updated my system by sacrificing magic items. Because of that, I was able to view more information. Maybe I just needed to update my system again.
Since I had already been given some new magic items that I didn’t care much about, I decided to use them as sacrificial offerings to the system so that it could upgrade. I pulled them out of my dimensional space and said, “I would like to sacrifice these magic items to upgrade the system.”
Just as the offering of the necromancer had disappeared, so too did my magic items. The only difference was that I didn’t need to use a magic ritual. I hoped that the magic items would be enough to make a substantial difference. I had certainly sacrificed enough magic items. Soon, I heard a ding when a screen popped up.
ACHIEVEMENT - SYSTEM UPGRADE. You have successfully upgraded the Ouroboros System. Additional options and more information are now available.
After I saw that, I wanted to do a fist pump. Finally, I had more information. As for the name of the system, it actually meant a lot. The ouroboros was a mythical snake, serpent, or dragon that was depicted as devouring its own tail. Scholars often interpreted the image as a symbol for eternal cyclic renewal. In other words, it was a dragon that represented the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. The shedding of the dragon’s skin symbolized the transmigration of souls. Before I got distracted, I asked, “How do I upgrade my personal dimensional space into a real divine realm?”
DIVINE REALM UPGRADE. Use faith points to increase the size of the realm to 10,000 ft3.
I was amazed. I was so simple. It was much easier than I had expected. I had thought I would need to make it much bigger and would have to conduct some exotic ritual. Instead, it was only twice the size of a Planar Mansion. It was like creating a room that was eleven feet high, thirty feet across, and thirty feet wide. Still, the cubic footage did add up quickly. While I didn’t have enough faith points at the moment, I wouldn’t take too long to gather them.
Since I couldn’t do much about it for the moment, I asked another question, “Ouroboros, if I increase my divine realm to this size, will I become a lesser god?”
LESSER GOD UPGRADE. Before advancing to lesser gods, minor gods need to advance from the 1st Rank to the 5th Rank. This can be done by using faith points to advance to the next divine rank.
I nodded, having expected that. “How many faith points do I need to spend to increase my divine rank each time? Also, what are some of the additional benefits I will get for reaching each divine rank?”
image [https://i.imgur.com/JgsR3qk.png]
After looking at the information for a moment, I realized that I wasn’t a normal god. One example of this was the fact that gods couldn’t bestow spells upon their priests above certain levels, which was limited by their divine rank. I hadn’t even known that, but had created a workaround. Instead of teaching clerics spells, which they could then cast, I actually cast the spells myself, which allowed the restriction to be bypassed.
However, no matter how smart I might be, I wouldn’t be able to wiggle my way out of paying a lot of faith points to upgrade my divine rank later on. I was actually surprised by how few faith points were needed to advance to the next divine rank in the beginning. As for the last ranks, it was going to be a nightmare trying to save up enough faith points to advance my divine rank. Because of that fact, I decided to visit a few more races after I finished with the kobolds. The lizardfolk might be a good source of believers.
While I was thinking about who to give my system to, I suddenly had the urge to ask, “Ouroboros, what is the Ouroboros System and why was it given to me?”
OUROBOROS SYSTEM. The Ouroboros System was created by XXXXXX. You were among a group of surviving souls who were selected for reincarnation after the destruction of your original plane of existence. Each reincarnated soul was given an individualized system to assist them in adapting to their new life.
I said nothing as I continued toward the city while trying to absorb everything that I had just learned. From what I could surmise, the being who created the Ouroboros System was in possession of at least some of the souls from my world. The question was, “What happened to the souls of my family?” While my memories were unclear sometimes, almost as if they belonged to another person, I still knew that they were my own. I also still felt a deep connection to my family.
ACHIEVEMENT: FIRST GOD. As the first reincarnator to ascend to godhood and learn about the existence of XXXXXX, you will be given access to the surviving souls of your family and friends when you become a True God. All additional information about the system will only be accessible at that time.
Again, I silently flew through the quiet night, grappling with the implications of what had happened. Which souls survived the destruction of my world? Why wasn’t I more disturbed by what I had learned? I still didn’t even know how I had died. Everything about my previous life was foggy, with only brief moments of clarity.
Was my emotional detachment something intentionally done by the creator of the Ouroboros System or was it from something like the “fog of war?” Could it have been caused by damage to my soul during the destruction of my entire plane of existence? As for the souls I would receive in the future, which souls survived? Also, who were the other souls that had reincarnated? Who created the system? Why did that god create the system? Why was I chosen?