After about a couple seconds of darkness, the screen began to light up and reveal a picturesque scene of a sea of golden clouds. As Jessie looked around, a line of text popped up in front of him.
‘Welcome to The Stars Of Fate, due to the immersive technology employed by the Azure branch company, please just move naturally. We ask that you try this out.’
After reading this text, Jessie started waking around and, to his amazement, found that it was just as easy as walking intel’s life. After a couple minutes running, jumping and playing with the clouds like a child, another bunch of text appeared in front of him.
‘We hope that you have become more comfortable with the immersive aspect of The Stars Of Fate, name and class selection will occur at a Later stage, due to the large number of players, the next intake will occur in 00:00:00:34.’
Followed 34 seconds by
‘Thank you for waiting, to enter the game please step through the gold portal, the portal will remain open for 15 minutes.’
The gold ports materialised about 5 metres away from Jessie. After staring at the swirls of gold moving around the portal for a minute, he stepped through into the unknown.
*********************
The three men stood at the end of the grand entrance awaiting the arrival of the souls. As the blue clock slowly ticked away, the men seemed anxious about something.
“It’s the first batch of them today, isn’t it?” Asked the demon elder
“Indeed it is, my friend.” Said the elder of the eternal flame.
The demon elder looked to the lord commander before asking
“It will work right?”
“Which part?”
“All of it, but mainly the blessings.”
“Yes, they should work.” Then a moment later he shouted “ARGH!, HOW LONG DO WE HAVE TO WAIT.”
“Calm down commander.” The elder of eternal flame said. “The souls are here.”
At these words the outside doors to the entrance hall swung open, to reveal the uninterrupted view of space and the millions of golden portals that were opening and closing as souls began arriving.
***************
As Jessie emerged from the portal, the first thing he noticed was that he was still standing on a cloud, the second thing they caught his notice was how many people there were and the location they were in. After all, standing on a cloud in space floating towards what looked like a giant walled city floating in space was nothing short of breathtaking. As Jessie looked behind him, he noticed the golden portals wink out of existence leaving an uninterrupted view of galaxies and nebulae spanning as far as he could see. By the time he turned back around his cloud was descending towards a pair of massive doors that were wide open and the large crowd of people who were slowly trying to enter the room, and by the time he managed to enter, everyone else had taken a place facing towards a raised platform at the other end of the hall or looking up at the ceiling in awe, this stupor didn’t last long as with a soft clang of metal the doors to the hall closed, and one of the men on the raised platform stepped forward.
“Welcome new souls.” The man said. And though his voice was soft it still reached the farthest corners of the hall. “My name is Aritithe, grand elder of the eternal flame, representative of the astral throne. To my left is Abbadon, grand elder of the demon gods and representative of the sundered throne. And to my right is Ferindar, lord commander of the War Gods armies and representative of the eternal throne.” Aritithe paused for a bit. “As has been tradition for aeons past, three elders gather to welcome the souls of the righteous and kind and help them embark on the journey of reincarnation.” After saying this Aritithe stepped back, allowing Abbadon to step forward.
“We welcome those whose souls were chosen from Among the mortals of righteousness and kindness, by the ancient gods of fate and destiny. And with a blessing from a god behind these doors, remain on your path for all eternity.” After these words Abbadon also stepped back and was replaced with Ferindar.
“with the blessing of three elders and representatives of the three divine factions, we grant you entrance into the bazaar of the divines, your time here is endless, and may your choice of patron be wise.” With these words the doors behind the three elders swung open revealing the crowded streets and stalls that made up the bazaar.
“Before you enter, I ask one thing, those of you who hail from earth, please stay behind.” And with that he stepped back and waited as the souls of those who did not come from earth, made their way into the bazaar, as the last of them plaster the threshold of the great doors, slowly swung closed with soft clang.
“I make the assumption that those of you left in this hall hail from earth.” He looked around for a moment, then took out a scroll before continuing. “I have been instructed to give you this information before you are allowed to gain the blessing of the elders. I do warn you, there is a lot of information I need to read.” And with that Ferindar unfurled the scroll and began to read.
“The first thing you should know is that you may only have one account and one account only, it matters not if you use a different pod or headset, you will always be connected with your account.” By the nervous looks and muttering the responses throughout the hall, he knew that these people were from earth, and that very little information had been shared with them.
“The next thing you should know, you may only receive one blessing from this place, due to your abilities the respawn after death, you will not be sent here but instead to the nearest city or town to where your death occurred. Do note that we are not allowed to inform you what your penalty for death is, that you need to find out on your own.”
A lot of dissatisfied grumbling came from the gathered players when they heard this part.
“In regards to the termination of accounts, if you delete the account yourself, you may re choose your blessing from any god who will give it to you here, however, though you may create another account immediately, experience gain will be reduced by 75% for 3 months and only after that may you enter the divine bazaar to choose your new blessing. If your account is terminated by a member of the Azure branch company, an account may not be created for 3-12 months depending on the offence. This also means that the blessing you may obtain after these accounts are terminated will decrease from whatever one you choose to a minor blessing, depending on the offence. That is all the information for now, figure out the rest on your own.” He stepped back after saying this.
Stepping forward Abbadon addressed the stunned players before him.
“We have shared with you all the information we have been told to deliver to you, so, with the blessing of the three elders and representatives of the diving factions, we welcome you into the divine bazaar. May your selection be wise and thought out.”
With these words the three elders turned around and walked into the divine bazaar.
***********
Jessie remained at the back of the hall, in part due to the moment of stunned silence he was experiencing as well as the rest of the hall. No one moved for several seconds as they mentally digested what was said.
“What the fuck was that all about!?”
“That’s it!?”
“I thought we would get more!?”
The players exploded into a chorus of expletives and annoyance at how little information they were given, though after airing their complaints as loud as they wanted, the players slowly began to enter the divine bazaar and filter down the various paths and passages that made up the winding labyrinth. Aside from the noise, the main thing that stuck out to Jessie was the sheer number of absurdly attractive goddesses who seemed to be seducing both men and women with their looks and their words, and not even Jessie could escape them as he was approached, shortly after entering, by a succubus. Her approach heralded many gasps and mutters from other players behind him, all clearly taken by her looks, be it her Beauty or her voluptuous breasts which were barely contained by a dress of scarlet red that accentuated her curves. After a quick glance behind him at the players who were veritably drooling at the mouth looking at her, Jessie tried to continue down the pathway without having to talk to her.
“Hey cutie, where are you going?”
He mentally cursed at being noticed by a goddess clearly related to seduction.
“Deeper into the bazaar to find a god who is a better suit for me.”
The succubus pouted at this response but before she could say anything the men behind Jessie started to get annoyed.
“Hey, if you're not going to accept her offer, let others through.”
“Get moving, I want to see her up close,”
“She’s mine, fuck off.”
Jessie looked behind him, back at the Succubus, then back to the men before saying
“Do all of you think with the lower brain you horny perverts?”
And before waiting for a response he walked off looking for another god who might have a better fit of blessing.
The succubus watched him leave with a slight look of incredulity on her face.
“I haven’t encountered anyone who can withstand my aura of seduction to that level before.” She muttered, before turning back to the crowd of drooling teens and men who were looking at her, at which point she started her sales pitch to get as many of them to take her blessing as she could.
As Jessie approached the main square the first thing he noticed was the large staircase that led to a golden portal similar to what he entered when he first arrived outside the divine bazaar. The second thing he noticed was the large open space around the base of the stairs, where a group of people could be seen having a massive argument and, upon closer inspection, Jessie noticed the three elders who had given them the introduction to the bazaar earlier. Despite his rational brain saying it was a terrible idea, Jessie decided to try get a closer look at what was happening.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
“ARE YOU SHITTING ME!?” The elder who had introduced himself as the lord commander of the War Gods armies yelled. “THAT'S YOUR EXCUSE!?” The fury on Ferindar’s face could kill someone, he was clearly trying his best to not send the man in front of him flying.
“Uh, yesh.”
“You came to see how I was doing. You didn’t happen to, you know, WALK THROUGH THE WRONG PORTAL!?”
The man shrunk back further into himself as the verbal assault continued to smash down his defences. As the man tried to formulate a response, Ferindar turned towards the other man who had tried to shrink back out of his sight.
“And you.” The look of anger on his face merged with a look of disappointment. “How are you drunk, WHEN YOU DONT EVEN LIKE ALCOHOL?!” Ferindar took a breath to continue yelling at the two men when someone appeared next to him. This man wore a black hooded robe which covered his entire face in shadow, the only thing that could be seen were the eyes of flaming purple. On his back sat a scythe with a silver blade and black haft, while on his left hip sat a long sword the only thing exposed was the black handle.
“Ferin, I think they understand your anger, but could you reprimand them elsewhere?”
“Death, shut up.”
“I shink you shood lishten to him.” The first man said in a slurred voice
“Liz.” Ferindar said, his voice a dearly calm compared to a moment before. This change sent shivers down the spines of everyone watching. “This is your only warning to shut up.”
“But the sheen you’re mak…”
The War god Lizel didn’t even finish his sentence. Ferindar lowered his fist and looked at the dust cloud coming from the bottom of the staircase. As the dust slowly faded, the crumpled form of the unconscious War god could be seen. As Ferindar started to make his way over to the War God, Death laid a hand on his shoulder.
“I think that’s enough for now, go organise a few legions to reinforce the gods of the eternal flame.” Death looked at the pitiful form of the War God. “Be a better use of your time than beating up primordials anyway.”
With a word to the guards who were standing at the side this whole time, Ferindar made his way up the stairs while the guards dragged the unconscious form of the War god, and escorted the god of wild animals towards the portal.
Along with everyone else who witnessed the altercation, Jessie stood still, stunned by what he had just seen, before deciding to continue his search for a decent blessing. As he walked we went over in his head all the blessings he had asked about, most of them seemed to be small things like an increase in experience gain, or an increased chance to gain a follower or stuff like that. Others were useless like being able to grow apples the size of basketballs, or one group of gods who were all offering people a blessing which would drastically increase their chance at creating a harem. Jessie may have cursed at them when they tried to get him to take the blessing, saying something like
“why the fuck would i want more than one lover, that seems like way to much fucking work.”
They had backed off fairly quickly after that.
By the time Jessie found himself back in the main square some eight hours later, he had walked the entire bazaar and only found a few combat related blessings that he was only slightly interested in. As he sat on the edge of the fountain, which contained eight statues of gods and goddesses he had not seen in the bazaar he started muttering to himself.
“Am I asking too much? These blessings all seem very basic, which makes sense I guess. If they were to OP, the game would be broken.”
As he sat there muttering to himself, he didn’t notice a man in a black robe sit next to him.
“They say talking to yourself is the first sign of madness.” The man said in a soft voice , which made Jessie jump in fright. Jessie turned towards the man and stared. The man was clearly the same one as earlier, the one who had stopped the elder from beating up the war god further. But what made Jessie stare the most was that he had his hood down. Instead of a normal face the man only had a skull.
“You’re Death, right?” He asked slightly hesitantly
“There is no need to be scared, I’m not here to kill you.” Death said, and though he had no skin, Jessie was sure Death had a slight smile on his face. “I merely wanted to ask you why you are still here, I know you were told to take your time and choose wisely. But the second intake of your lot has come and gone, with most of those having chosen a blessing already.”
“I just haven't really found a blessing I like.” Jessie said in a quiet voice. He then looked at Death again. “Could I ask you a question?”
Death looked at Jessie and opened his mouth, thought for a bit, and closed it before muttering “I always hated that joke.” He looked back at Jessie and nodded. “You may. Ask as many as you want in fact.”
Jessie thought for a moment before asking.
“What’s the difference between necromantic and undead magic?”
“Going straight for the difficult question I see.” With a slight chuckle Death continued. “Necromantic magic relies more on the summoning of undead creatures. For instance the skeletons a necromancies can summon are made out of mana, a complicated fusion of mana and molecular material allowing it to resist magic that dispels mana in an area, but that’s far out of your league. The mana fusion, not the class. Necromancer's can raise the dead, but they have multiple ways to do it. The most common way is where the stereotype comes from and is related to undead magic. The second way allows for the necromancers to resurrect the dead, with all their memories and skills from when they were alive. With the added side effect that they will have full loyalty towards the one who resurrected them. The problem with this method is that the soul of the deceased has a say in whether they want to be resurrected or not.” Death paused to see if Jessie was still with him. “Undeath magic ties into the first method a necromancer can use to raise the dead, undeath magic is easier to use than necromantic magic as one only needs to worship or gain the blessing of a god or goddess of undeath. This method forcefully reanimates a corpse without their will, the soul of the deceased is not taken or harmed but the corpse will be under the control of whoever raised it. The more powerful the undead, the more skills the corpse will retain or unlock from when they were alive.” Death looked at Jessie. “Does that answer your question?”
“It does. But.” Jessie trailed off a bit, but after a moment continued the question. “But what’s Death magic then?”
“Void.” Death instant answer somewhat surprises Jessie
“Void, isn’t that like, it’s own magical tree or something?”
“Death magic and void magic are the same but they are also different. Pure void magic is destructive by nature, and can also destroy the soul if the wielder uses it too broadly and without control, though this only happens with the more powerful void spells. Death magic also destroys things by nature, unlike void it doesn’t disintegrate matter or nullify mana, it takes the life force of any living thing, draws it out of them and dissipates it into the air where it mixed with the mana, and helps more life grow. Void magic and death magic can both manifest themselves as purple in colour, but also black as well. This is where the main confusion comes into play as the colour difference is only noticeable with high tiered spells.” Death paused then continued, however he seemed a bit sad. “On most undeveloped and young planets, death magic is seen as undeath magic, and thus practitioners of death magic are persecuted.”
“But, if you are Death, who rules over necromancy and undeath?”
Death slowly stood up and faced the statues in the fountain, upon closer inspection, Jessie noticed that one of them was of death himself.
“There are eight fundamental laws of This realm.” Death started. “I am not meant to tell you, but I can’t be bothered not to as few talk freely with me, or the other seven in fact,” there was a long pause, during which Jessie decided to just stay silent
“Everything has its opposite, many believe that the opposite nullifies the opposite. Few realise that opposites are intertwined, without one there cannot be another. This is the highest law of this reality. Without life there cannot be death, and without death there cannot be life. The eight ancient gods are the manifestation of these eight laws. Space, Time, chaos, order, creation, destruction, life and death. Each ancient god has their own domain, but oftentimes they overlap, death creates the nutrients needed to grow trees in forest, those trees have a lifespan after which they die, but they spread seeds over the ground to grow more trees. This leads to a Forest where the trees grow where they can, but a balanced ecosystem is in place allowing for this cycle to continue. A wildfire may burn through this forest but it will leave behind ash to fertilise the ground allowing the forest to regrow better soil than it did earlier. These eight fundamental laws all act in harmony within this forest.”
“So, as the ancient god of death, you preside over undeath and necromancy?”
“Along with Life, Chaos and Destruction.”
“But why are you telling me this?”
“Partly because you are the only mortal, or god who will speak to me as you have.” Death paused. “And because I want to offer you my blessing.”
“But… wouldn’t your blessing be too powerful?”
“Indeed it would. The blessing you would receive will level up with you, for each milestone you reach, the blessing will upgrade, this way I won’t be disrupting the natural order of reality.”
“If I was to accept, what would I have access to right away?”
“The ability to absorb a small portion of the life force of whatever you kill. To make this more fair, you must be the one to land the killing blow, or someone must give you permission to take the life force. This life force will grant you a small portion of experience equal to half the amount you received for the kill. The excess life force will be dispersed into the ambient mana to continue the natural cycle.”
After thinking the offer over for a while, Jessie looked at Death
“I accept your blessing.”
As he said this a screen popped up in front of Jessie
‘You have accepted the blessing of Fulorbayan-Shingon, the ancient God of Death’
“Fulorbayan-Shingon?” Jessie asked
“Uh, yea. The name I was given many Aeons ago by another mortal, he wrote it in a book without consulting me.”
“Is there a way I can see what the blessing does?”
“Hmm? Oh right, if you think about expanding the information it gives you more details.”
As Jessie thought about getting more details about the blessing, the screen information of him changed and a new line was displayed under the blessing.
‘Blessing of the ancient god of death.
How the hell did you get this
Rank: unknown
Upgradable.
With this blessing, you may absorb a portion of the life force of any kill up to half the experience gained from its death.’
“Okay, soo, what do I do now?”
“Now? Now you choose which planet you wish to begin your adventure on.” Death turned and began walking towards a large hall that sat off to the left of the stairs. The doors to this hall were made of solid white mana embossed with intricate swirls of gold and silver that seemed to flow, ever so slowly, across the doors. As Death approached the doors, they silently swung open revealing rows of golden portals surrounded by portals showing kingdoms and empires.
“Welcome to the hall of, well, portals. It’s a bit unoriginal but it gets the point across.” Upon entering the hall all the gods stopped what they were doing to stare at Death, a god who was almost never seen in public and never seen in the divine bazaar. Ignoring the other gods and people choosing which planet to begin their adventures on, Death considered a planet for Jessie to begin on.
“What are your views on politics?”
“Not interested.”
“Hmm, Adventure?”
“Preferable. Why are you asking me these questions?”
“To send you to the most optimal world.” Death though for a bit, “hmm, a newer less developed world maybe?”
As he looked around the hall for a suitable world, gods shrank back as his eyes glanced over them. Death's eyes quickly scanned the entire hall, before snapping back to a portal with a bluer hue surrounding it.
“Alecious seems a good choice.” He mused
“Alecious? Could I ask what it contains?”
“Oh, all the usual races found throughout most of the universe, Elves, Dwarves, Humans, Beastfolk and so on. Fairly new and rather large, little politics in most places and ripe for adventure. If you go to that planet, would you allow me to do something?”
“Allow you to do what?”
“Do you accept this planet as your new beginning?”
“I accept?”
“Great.” There was a hint of glee in Death's voice. “Have fun and don’t annoy the local gods.”
Death then grabbed Jessie by the back of his plain tunic, which he had been wearing since he arrived at the bazaar, and threw him through the portal leading to Alecious.
“Oh, I forgot to tell him about classes.” Death muttered after Jessie had vanished through the portal.