Being born is a traumatic experience. The sudden emptiness of your lungs, your first exposure to light and to the various free-floating gasses, the fear of being forced from a place of comfort and home. A mortal birth is a traumatizing thing. It’s good for our soul then that being born is quite different for gods. Sure, the birds and the bees is a required step but, instead of being created inside the womb of a goddess(imagine the hormone-fueled disaster that would create), a new god is formed within the womb of the very world, a sacred and incorruptible place that ensures all the various laws that allow the universe to function stay functioning. Gods are born within the Universal Aether Pool.

‘Plop’

Silence greeted the birth of our God, the now golden soul plummeting into the Aether Pool like a drop of water into an ocean. Unnoticed and unopposed, the new god-soul slowly sank into the pool, as the aether changed its very being to suit the laws of the world.

Greetings new god! Came a sudden message, directly into the mind of the god-soul. Would you like to select a domain yourself? Y/N

Our god-soul didn’t remember much from its time as Grant, only the important details such as ‘how to build a world’ and ‘I died a virgin’. The majority of it was traumatized from pain, broken beyond repair.

Warning! Dangerous mental condition! Choice will be put on hold. Now drawing in ambient Aether to repair damage to cognitive ability. EST: 30 seconds

EST:29,28,27,...3,2,1, ‘DING’

Cognitive damage repaired.

Greetings new god! Would you like to select a domain yourself? Y/N

For the first time since… well, pretty much since he was actually Grant, the soul felt in control and aware. No longer in a pain/death induced daze, he could think and reason. A large step up from the broken soul he had been before.

With this returned awareness, he was also given a total and complete calm. The panic had all died out during ‘torture time’, and while confused he knew to calmly and cooly advance.

Congratulations! Of the -ERROR- gods to be reborn, you are the first to select your own domain! You have been rewarded with -1- extra choice and the title -”Cognitive King” +3 to created species base intellect-.

Please select a domain: Torture, Creation, Forging, Learning, War(Inherited), Beauty(Inherited)

As the soul mentally hovered over each choice, it could innately tell the ‘quality’ of the domain. Creation was at the top, then learning and war, followed by the others. As creation was obviously the best, he mind-clicked it.

Please select a domain(Extra): Torture, Forging, Learning, War(Inherited), Beauty(Inherited)

The second choice was harder, however. Torture was out of the picture, he didn’t enjoy the idea of being a god of… that. War was next, as while it was vital towards driving civilization, he wasn’t a particularly violent person. Forging was next to go, as much as he hated to do so, simply because it was a lesser version of creation. It hurt, but it was the logical choice.

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That left learning and beauty. Normally, he would have tossed out beauty… but this was an extra choice. Who doesn’t want to be attractive? At the same time, learning really suited him. He knew it did, being a total nerd, geek, or whatever you want to call it in his last life. But… at the same time, he really wanted to be handsome.

In the end, he made his choice based on a feeling. He could become a God of Learning later, as his people would be naturally intelligent thanks to the bonus, but he couldn’t just suddenly become a god of beauty. It was one of the few domains you could only gain at birth. How did he know all this? The knowledge flowed into his soul, from the Aether surrounding him. He was being given the common sense required for a god to survive in the world, it would seem.

So, being that this probably wouldn’t put his life at risk, the soul mind clicked Beauty.

Congratulations -God of Creation and Beauty-! Please design your core avatar! Note: Due to the selection of Beauty as a domain, your avatar will be adjusted to the most attractive possible state while remaining true to your base template! Note 2: If you change your gender setting to female or any other alternative, all titles will change in order to accommodate the change.

And, suddenly, the golden soul could see the words instead of them being transmitted directly into his head. He was looking at a giant tv-like screen that held an incredibly attractive version of his past self. In fact, it was to the point where you wouldn’t recognize him as the same person.

Using your mind, you may customize the avatar in any way you wish! Have fun!

Mind-blinking was the closest description to the soul’s current bewildered state.

“I’d do that…” He thought unconsciously, before catching himself. “Even though I’m not gay and that’s me? What the hell, me?”

Ignoring his self-cest thoughts, the soul got to work, or at least tried to. Turns out, beauty is in the eye of the beholder… so he’d appear as the most beautiful possible male being to any who see him. Meaning, he could appear as the most glorious dwarf to one and the most elegant elf to another if he wished. Instead he decided to stick with a human whose features change depending on who looked at him. He might have blond hair to one person and brown to another, for example.

Congratulations! You have finished designing your body and selecting your domain(s). It is time to be born! Came the words. As the son of a Goddess of War and a Goddess of Beauty, you have been granted the following traits. -”Fierce” +1 to both personal and created species base physical Strength- and -”Charismatic” +1 to both personal and created species base Charisma-. As a God of Creation you receive the following trait -”Creative” +2 to both personal and created species base wisdom.- As a god of Beauty you receive the following trait -”Flawless” +10 personal charisma, +2 to created species base charisma.- Congratulations! You have received many gifts and rewards! A genius, is what some would call you. But be warned! Nothing will ever come so easily again! Trials and tribulations must be weathered for you to grow, young god. Live well, live long! Be born!

Then, a bright light flashed in front of the still unnamed god before he faded into a pseudo-unconscious state. Many hours passed by as the soul became a boy, and the boy travelled to his new home.

“I knew sleeping with that whore was a bad idea…” came a rough and strong female voice, waking the boy from his slumber. “I’ll be damned if he isn’t a cute bastard though.”

This was the point the soul realized it was in a body. The being who was once Grant slowly managed to force his eyes open, only to realize there was no need. His body responded perfectly to his needs and wants, his eyes opening without resistance.

Holding the boy was a strange...

“Is that a dragon?” he thought.

Anybody would be afraid viewing a giant dragon eyeing them upon awakening, so the boy tried to throw himself away from the lizard-bird. He regretted the decision, as he plunged straight into the hand of a barbarian queen.

A small squeal escaped his lips, and he nearly wet himself. Whatever calming force was in the Aether was not present here, so panic threw open the doors with the force of a hurricane, and the boy broke down crying,

“Damn it! Is he broken! You damn lizard, if you did something I’ll skin you myself! Get out of here!” Came the voice that woke him, the woman holding him scolding… a dragon.

This was a bit too much for the boy and he passed out. Being a god didn’t seem to do much to help with natural biological reactions.