The empty highway stretched on, seemingly forever through the desert. Fortunately, it would soon be night and I wouldn't have to deal with the heat from the sun for much longer. Unfortunately, I was driving west, so I was enjoying being partially tanned and fully blinded by the setting star. Still, I didn't encounter many other drivers and, given I was alone, was able to drive without needing to think too much about what I was doing.
Instead, I spent my time idly daydreaming. Mostly just random stuff about what I would do once I got to LA. Probably unpacking and moving in. And then I'd obviously have to find work. Maybe find someone to date? I let my mind drift, content not to think too hard about any given topic. At some point, the sun had set, so I turned on my lights and continued on, still in the same mindset of -
“We sh-”
“AAAAAAA-”
“-ould take the next exit, Mr. Arthur.”
“-AAAAAA!” I was screaming and had swerved the car. I was still trying to course correct as I looked over and saw a man in a fashionable suit doing a crossword puzzle on a newspaper in the passenger seat. He leaned over and gently pulled the steering wheel, getting us back on the road properly. We were very lucky no one was around.
“Who the fuck are you?!”
Sighing, the man responded, “I am a god, Mr. Arthur, and would like for you to take the next exit, if you would be so kind. Also, I would consider it a good favor if you stopped swearing.”
“A god?”
“Yes, a god. There are thousands of religions in this world, no? Most are devoted to serving one god or another.”
“You're a god? Why the hell are you in my car?”
“I wonder why you would think my answer would change after asking three times if I am indeed a god. And I am in your car because I want to talk to you. This exit, Mr. Arthur.”
I slowed down, not taking the exit but pulling over to the side of the road.
“Get the fuck out.”
“No, I don't think I will.”
“I swear to god I'll kick your ass.”
The man stared at me, one eyebrow raised. Right, he was a god. Allegedly. I amended my statement: “Fine, I swear to me I'll kick your ass if you don't get out of this car.”
The man grinned and tapped the dash. The car disappeared, and I found myself sitting at an In-N-Out table with him next to me, eating a double-double. “I do despise the blatant bigotry and overt religion pushing, but by me are the burgers are worth it,” he said, before picking up his drink and sipping it.
“What the fuck?” I said, looking around. There was nothing around us, we were just floating in a bubble in the void. “What is this? Where are we?”
“To answer the latter two of your questions, this is a personal dimension I created, and to respond to your first, please do not swear. It is unbecoming of a good man.”
I just stared at him, confused beyond all reason. “You said you're a god.” He nodded. “Prove it,” I said, looking down at my own burger before biting into it. Amazingly, it tasted like the real thing, perfectly warm and quite savory.
“How?” he asked, before taking another bite.
“Do something impossible.”
Sighing, the man said, “By my own reckoning, I have teleported into your vehicle, transported us to another dimension, and have made an In-N-Out appear in said dimension, fully staffed and perfectly functional. I do not know your standards for impossible, admittedly, but I feel that checking that box should at least be reconsidered.”
“Do something impossible-er.” I took a sip of my drink, which turned out to be the strawberry shake. Delicious.
Closing his eyes, the man sighed, put his burger down, and said, “I shall endure the curse words so long as you do not butcher a language by running roughshod over its grammatical rules, Mr. Arthur. And you shall have to define a more impossible task yourself.”
I continued eating and drinking as I thought about it. The more I thought about it, the more likely it seemed that this guy was just straight up a god, or at least as close as you could get to one. Still, there was one thing that most people couldn't resist asking.
“Aren't you immortal?”
The man nodded at me, and then his body exploded, splattering his blood and organs everywhere. I sat staring at where he was, until he walked past me and sat down. I then continued staring, though now at his face.
“Satisfied?” he asked, and then finished off his unaffected burger.
“...you got blood everywhere,” I said, putting down my own ruined and bloodied burger. My appetite was gone.
“Ah! An oversight on my part.” All his blood and organs just ... disappeared. Somehow.
“...you wanted to talk to me about something?”
Nodding again, he handed me a scroll and a small orb before finishing his drink. “Read the scroll first, it'll explain.”
Opening it, I started reading:
This is a contract between you and the Watchmaker that precedes the assimilation of you and your planet to the System. This contract is void if initiated after the System has begun the assimilation process, subject to a standard ruling or hearing by the Council.
You agree to provide a service or services to the Watchmaker in exchange for one or more boons. The nature and extent of the service(s) & the nature and the extent of the boon(s) are as follows:
Services rendered
* ??
* ?????
* ????
Boons offered
* ????????
* ??
* ???
Open the orb provided to agree to this contract and unlock the first level of service(s) and boon(s).
“Assimilation? System? Council? Watchmaker?” I asked incredulously.
“You and this planet will become part of the Hierarchy of the System, a program designed by myself and others of the Council of the Hierarchy to categorize, utilize, and elevate individuals, factions, nations, businesses, species, planets, and just about anything else we could. I am known as the Watchmaker, the first among equals and original founder of all of this.” He answered almost dispassionately, like he had rehearsed it before a thousand times.
“Watchmaker?” I repeated.
“An apt moniker, though as you have no doubt deduced, it is not my actual name. I am considered by many to be the best seer of fate, even among gods and Gods.” Even though he said gods twice, the latter of the two gods had something about it that seemed to signify ... more. Shaking my head, I considered him.
“Why me?” I asked.
“A calculation that we run approves each member of the Council to select some number of personal personnel to employ from the world we are to assimilate, usually in the high hundreds to low thousands. Some are considered champions, powerful and highly aligned with the Council member, allowing them a more direct path to promote their will and that of the Council's. Some are on a single mission that can take anywhere from a few seconds to a few centuries. Upon completing such a mission, they are rewarded and can sever the ties to their patron, though most stay on as if they were one of the champions. Yet others are simply to observe and report the behavior of their fellows to allow us to integrate better or see the early warning signs that your peoples could and would otherwise ignore. And some are like you, Mr. Arthur, who do not have much anything else to do, and so are our proverbial guinea pigs. We ask you to accomplish something, you either succeed or fail, we learn that much more about either your species or your planet, then you start anew, ad infinitum.”
“... did you just insult me?”
“Quite. I assume you want to tell me to 'eff' off, but I will be frank and ask you to look at the facts. You are a young man who has lost both his parents, graduated out of a middling college with an unremarkable bachelor's degree, are going to a large city with little to no prospects, and do not have much in the way of a social life. To my knowledge, you didn't even secure yourself an apartment lease before you moved out of your dormitory. Further, I don't believe you actually want anything majorly expensive or prestigious, like the grandest palace or the fanciest car. Instead, you want the freedom to control your life. I can offer it to you with this. The services you render will not be for anything that you wouldn't do, or rather, they would be for things you might do in certain situations. I will not impose or inconvenience you in your day to day life. I will ask that you do something for me, and I will give you a nominal boon. Otherwise, you will be free to do and say as you wish, with my name guaranteeing you safety, within reason of both your actions and my available power.”
“What am I testing for you, then? Sounds like you don't want anything specific.”
“I do and, paradoxically, I don't. I won't entrust you with the details, but suffice it to say the Council and I are at war with a species that cannot be defeated so easily. As a fate seer and much proclaimed 'Watchmaker', I like to be able to have foreknowledge. However, we were betrayed by a God, one on the Council, and it so happens that incident was partially due to my desire for rigidity. I need to have moderation, and so I had proposed a plan: half of all my chosen, which is the official term for what you would be, will be free to do as they please, outside of the influence of all deities.”
“So you chose me to cause chaos?”
“In a sense, yes. And to be clear, this will not be indefinite. You will be free to do as you wish until you obtain a rank of C, which on average takes half of your eons, give or take 3.2 millennia. I am going to assume you will be much more accepting to a boss at that point.”
“We'll see. I have more questions.”
“Ask away.”
“You said it'll take half an eon. Does that mean I become immortal?”
“No, you simply slow down or reverse aging as you raise your rank.”
“Speaking of, are you going to explain ranks?”
“No, accepting this invitation will initiate a tutorial of sorts, which will explain the basics.”
I looked down at the orb, then back at him. He simply looked back, waiting. Fuck it, I though, opening the orb.
I was stunned by what was inside, speechless by what I was seeing. The sight of it befuddled my mind, it's mere presence astoundingly confusing. It was impossible that this was what was contained within the orb, it was the last thing I would have expected: a pebble.
“A pebble?”
“Ah, I can understand your confusion. This is not a pebble, but rather a System enhanced focus, though most call it an SE focus or starter focus.”
“What does it do?”
“If I'm not mistaken, you will be receiving a notification from it fairly soon and it will ask if you wish to absorb it. That will start your assimilation into the system.”
I stared at him, then back at the pebble. I've finally lost it, I thought. As nothing was going to happen, I started to inhale so I could tell this jacka-
[Welcome! You are designated user HOMO-SAPIENS-8-67-5-309-12945]
[Would you like to assimilate into the System via focus F-99-9-999?]
[Y/N]
Well that was jarring. Also: “F-99-9-999?”
“A special focus I had crafted, though I didn't expect to use it right away. The F would be your starting rank, then it states how many levels, how far into the specified level, and the amount of xp.”
“In this case, would it be 99 levels out of 100?”
“Ah, no, this will round. As it is all 9s, it is as close as possible without hitting the limit. In certain cases, life experience can then bridge the admittedly minor gap.”
“Oh fuck yeah!”
“Curse again and I will teleport you out of here with no more answers to your questions.”
Ignoring him, I looked back at the focus in my hand. Surprisingly, it responded right away.
[Would you like to assimilate into the System via focus F-99-9-999?]
[Y/N]
“Yes!”
[Welcome! You have assimilated into the System! We will now begin the tutorial. First, begin by looking at your status screen. You may look at your status screen at any time by saying or thinking 'status' or 'stats'.]
Status! I thought in my mind.
[HOMO-SAPIENS-8-67-5-309-12945/James 'Jimmy' Arthur, Rank F, Level 1]
Health: 1/1 (100*(.01*1)) (Regen 10 per min. {Inactive})
Stamina: 1/1 (100*(.01*1)) (Regen 10 per min. {Inactive})
Mana: 1/1 (100*(.01*1)) (Regen 10 per min. {Inactive})
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 10
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 10
Focus attribute: Your Health, Stamina, & Mana are forcibly capped at 1% of the lower of your current or maximum level achieved (level 1)
Focus attribute: ************************************************ *********************************************************************************(Locked)
“What the fu-”