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Atral’s brain feels like it is slamming against her skull like it wants to escape from the tight confines it lives in.
This definitely doesn’t help the anxiety she is feeling as with each passing second her heart is racing faster and faster. The tightness of her chest is hard to ignore as Atral’s breath comes in short wheezes.
The Archiver used magic on all of the champions that calmed them down so they can make rational decisions about who to choose as a deity. However, the Archiver is not a kind entity and retracted the magical confidence he gave everyone after they entered Galactor.
This hit Atral the hardest as she had a very sheltered life for the most part and was born with high levels of anxiety. It got so bad that whenever she saw bugs, Atral would faint every time, even if the bugs were only a few inches big.
Her eyesight has been blurry for the past couple of minutes, but as it clears up, Atral finds the Archiver standing in front of her.
“AH! AM I DEAD ALREADY?!” Atral shrieks.
“Unfortunately, not yet.” the Archiver says pessimistically.
“What do you mean by ‘Unfortunately’, matter fact what does ‘not yet’ mean!” Atral yells at the Archiver due to his insensitive words.
“I mean unfortunately because the Deities are spending a lot of points to keep you alive. And I mean not yet because even more Deities are also spending points to feed you to that thing.”
The Archiver points to Atral’s right and she jumps up in fear, letting out a small squeal in the process. Nekesh the Ghoul is laying on the ground right next to Atral, about 15 feet away. Luckily for Atral, Nekesh hasn’t awakened yet.
Fear and hope swirl inside of Atral’s soul as her brain digests what they had said. Deities are trying their best to hurt her, while others are trying to get her killed.
“Why is this happening?” Atral sputters out with a quiet whisper. The Archiver laughs at her question.
“It is simple my dear dragonkin. It is the same reason why children play with toys and why adults wage wars. It is to relieve our boredom.” A sick cackle erupts from within the Archivist. Atral’s soul is filled with a tinge of anger and resentment but is quickly suppressed by the fear she feels towards the mastermind behind this.
“You’re…”
“Sick? Demented? Horrific? Sinister? That is not for low tiered beings to decide. Think about all the bugs you’ve killed in your life. Did you think twice before killing them?”
Atral tries to rebuke the ideals of the Archiver, but when thinking back, she certainly had purposefully burnt down a whole section of the college campus just to get rid of a roach infestation.
“Now that you understand, quickly check your notifications. I am dying to see how you will escape the clutches of death.”
Atral quickly opens the menu within the system that was created by the sinister being that put her here.
4 new notifications appear at the upper corner of her menu, telling her that the Deities wish to speak to the young dragonkin.
The first notification comes from a Deity named The Shadow Lord. Atral expects something sinister or evil, yet the message is surprisingly tame.
‘If you survive the week I will grant you a random class.’ - The Shadow Lord
In fact, this simple message gave Atral hope and motivation. If she can survive a week in hell, she will be rewarded with even having to become a champion to a Deity! The Shadow Lord seemed like a truly kind Deity. Atral is excited to see what’s next and hurried opens the next message.
The next notification is even more than a message much to Atral’s delight and she finds an array of gifts waiting for her.
‘*cronch* *munch* *munch* *munch* oh its already on. Atral Rivertale *snap* I see that you haven't chosen a sponsor *crunch* yet so I bring some gifts to help your survival *munch* and hopefully help you make the right choice. *Gulp*’ - Distracted Snacker
The message from the absent-minded eater isn’t exactly professional, but the contents of the message fill Atral with happiness. She looks at the gifts sent from the Distracted Snacker and Atral can feel the anxiety that once filled her starting to wash away.
A Random (Warlock) Class, A Random Weapon, 10 popcorn, and a sponsorship that Atral can take in the future once her ban is lifted.
“Do you accept these gifts?” The Archiver asks with a sinister smile.
“Of course! I will accept them right now!” Atral yells out. She is basically getting the same thing that other Deities offered Atral in exchange for her servitude without having to do anything at all!
“I won’t let you down Distracted Snacker and The Shadow Lord! I will; survive and kill this beast!” Atral yells with the most amount of confidence she has ever had. There are so many Deities that hope for her success.
After accepting the gifts, a button that says ‘Roll’ appears in front of the blue dragonkin and with no hesitation, she rolls her rewards.
Up first is the class and as Atral watches as the D20 rolls, she cannot believe her eyes as the die lands on the coveted 20. Little confetti shoots out of Atral’s menu and a congratulatory horn plays along with it.
‘Congratulations Atral Rivertail on acquiring the Soul Devouring Gluttonous Warlock Mythical Class!’
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Atral’s heart skips a beat when looking at the name of her class. ‘Doesn’t that sound a little too evil?’ she asks to herself.
Atral then remembers the pain that the human male champion faced when getting his class and she braces herself, however, no pain comes. It must have not caused pain since the class was so good! Or at least that is what Atral keeps telling herself.
Feeling that everything so far is going her way again, Atral clicks roll another time for her weapon.
The D20 once again flies up into the air and lands on a 16 this time.
“That’s a rare weapon!” Atral yells out loud, not being able to believe her luck. She looks over at the Archiver and sees the wide smile on his face. ‘He must also be rooting for me secretly and is ecstatic that I am getting these amazing items!’ Atral thinks to herself.
‘Congratulations Atral Rivertail on acquiring The Staff of Distraction (Rare Weapon)!’
A staff appears in Atral’s hand that is made out of metal and covered with very intricate carvings. The top of the staff is a basket of popcorn, which is surprising for an Arcane weapon, but Atral doesn’t mind at all. The more power she can gain to survive this ordeal, the better.
After that arrival of her weapon, ten real buckets of popcorn appear beside Atral. The buttery smell coming from the popcorn is enchanting and the sight of the pure golden goodness is enough to make Deities cry. In fact, Atral is crying right now due to the Deities showering her in love.
Not wanting to wait though, Atral quickly wipes her tears and opens up the third notification.
‘If you choose to be my champion I will give you 2 Random skills in addition to the random class(mage)’ - ??? The Horror of the Void
The name of the Deity is enough to make Atral jump in fear, but not wanting to offend anyone Atral puts on the best smile she can muster.
“Ahhhh… Ehh… Thank you Mister or Miss Horror of the Void and I’m flattered that you’re willing to sponsor me. However, I will consider all of my options before I decide on who to worship.”
Atral then politely bows in a random direction, hoping that the Deity will see her gesture of politeness. Not wanting to make the situation even more awkward, Atral opens up the final notification and once again, the amount given to her is enough to make the dragonkin cry. Atral’s smile is so wide that all of her fangs are showing. She quickly goes to read the message from someone who has a name that suggests they might be of some kin to Atral.
‘I commend your attempt to use cunning to subvert the rules, but it was doomed to foolishness. The rules the Archiver has implemented state that each Champion can only have 1 deity as their official sponsor. I will continue to protect you during this week, partially in the hopes you will choose me and also because I hate to see so much potential waste away early. I give you these gifts in your time of great trouble, for the Ghoul is nearby and has been empowered even further. In your current state, there is little hope of you killing it and surviving. Other advice I will offer is to not trust the dark deities, especially the Distracted Snacker. And unless you are too indecisive of your magical path, I will not give you a class. Being gifted by a deity isn't the only way to obtain one. Other than that, please help the innocent in any way you can, find the human called Earnest to help in your survival, and live a fulfilled life.’ - The Drake of Justice and Adventure.
Atral’s heart drops to the bottom of her chest, and her mind turns blank. The message from The Drake of Justice and Adventure told her not to trust The Distracted Snacker, and yet here she is. Having a class and a weapon received from the Deity. Atral’s head slowly turns over to see the Archiver’s expression and now she finally realizes why he had been smiling.
The Archiver’s face is twisted with pure joy and excitement finally seeing that Atral had realized what she had done. A sporadic cackle erupts from within the system creator as he tries to hold himself back from exploding in laughter.
Atral doesn’t know what to think. The Distracted Snacker seemed like such a kind and carefree Deity, but now here she is being told that he is evil! By someone with Justice and Adventure in their name no less!
“Uhh…. Hey Lord Archiver.”
“*Giggle* Yes… *Giggle* Young Atral?” The Archiver barely manages to respond while laughing.
“Is there a way to refund gifts and think it over? I don’t want to decline I simply wish to think more about my decision.” Atral says in a quiet whisper.
“Nope! Wanna know something horrible? Warlock classes only work when the person is sponsored by the Deity who gave it to them! Wanna know what’s worse than that?! The fact that you cannot change your class without getting an item from the Deities! Wanna know the realllllly worst part? They can only buy it from the shop, and I control what goes in and out of it! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
The Archiver’s laugh is able to be heard in other dimensions as he cannot contain the excitement he is feeling. He expected the first year to be fun, but he never expected a situation like this to play out on the first day.
A Main Character gets banned from picking a Deity for a week, and then proceeds to get a class that only works if the Deity who gave it to her is sponsoring her! The cherry on top is that the Deities voted to put her in the most deadly situation possible!
That’s not even mentioning the fact that her that Deity is basically telling Atral to not trust the Deity who she is already bound to due to her class!
Atral’s face turns doesn’t change, but her soul on the inside is twisting and tearing due to the turmoil and anxiety she is going through. To go from such a high that she gets the only mythical class out of the others plus getting a rare weapon, only for it be from a possibly evil Deity she is now bound to!
The Archiver finally stops laughing and looks over to the Ghoul that had once been asleep on the ground. It is now wide awake, and looking at Atral with hungry eyes.
“Now now little one, how about you both finish accepting your gifts before we fight to the death.” The Archiver says with a mischievous tone.
Nekesh seems to understand what the Archiver means and quickly opens its menu, trying to accept everything as quickly as possible. There were 2 messages, but Nekesh is more focused on his prey than reading and decides to read them later after obtaining a full stomach. Luckily for Nekesh, someone bought him a new skill and he quickly rolls for it. The D20 flies in the air, which catches Atral’s attention, finally pulling her back to reality.
The D20 lands on a 2 and a message appears in the air.
‘Congratulations Nekesh on acquiring the Mutation Common Monster Skill! This skill lets you choose one new mutation every ten levels! Since it is common, you only get one choice for now!’
Nekesh doesn’t pay the system message any head and quickly turns back to the Archiver.
“Me eat now?” It screeches out. The Archiver shakes his head.
“She still has a minute to accept her final gifts.” The Archiver says, giving a hint to Atral to hurry up. Atral quickly accepts everything and spams the roll button.
Two health potions appear in the dragonkin’s hand.
A D20 flies into the sky and lands on a 4. She receives a common weapon called The Just Lantern. Another D20 flies in the air right afterwards, landing on a 2. She receives the Guaranteed Rare Defensive Skill called The Just Will Protect. The skill gives the user an extreme boost in defense and health regeneration when protecting someone.
With Atral having panicked and just accepted everything, The Archiver shrugs and looks over at Nekesh and Atral before saying one last thing before disappearing.
“Congratulations and may you entertain us until you die.”