Zou Shen entered a tailor shop which was located, the two-floor shop was very eye catching to Zou Shen on the main road with its colourful clothes on display.

As soon as he entered shop, he saw an old lady smoking a pipe and sitting behind a huge desk with clothes spread everyone on top. Her clothes were very colourful, it was designed. It looked like the old lady had designed the clothes in the shop herself.

The old lady looked towards the door to see who had entered to see it was a beggar looking young man. He had average looks and build, he would not stand out much and people would forget he existed if he didn't try to stand out himself. 

She got up from her seat slowly and walked towards Zou Shen to welcome him. "Ah young man, do you want to buy some clothes from my shop. You look like you could use a change in your image." 

She welcomed him while smiling at him like a grandma would at her dear grandson.

Zou Shen smiled greeting her back, "I need the elder to create this dress for me just like in the design. I will pay for all the materials you use, no matter the cost."

As he ended his greeting, he took out a paper with the design for the dress he wanted to create. If one someone looked from his past life, they would recognize it as the dress of Seimei Gold Feathers Skin from the game Onmyoji he was playing back in his past life. 

Zou Shen past life job was to be a freelance concept artist for game companies. So he also played games, reading fantasy novels, practice martials arts basics, exercise in his free time and wait for his heart to fail one day resulting in his death. He stopped his work after learning of the report of his heart condition as he got depressed and it bled into his work. So he just read fantasy novels and created arts for himself. If someone were to find his work in his computer now it would be dark and depressing at the start getting brighter and lighter by the end and recovering to his former art style very end close to his death. 

During this dark period in his life he would remember his past and his childhood how he wanted to be a cool hero or villain. He would tower around his back and try to fly around or act out martial arts move by himself. This was one of the reasons he started practicing martial arts basics when he was a teen and started exercising when he realized you needed a healthy body to even do cool moves. Fate played a cruel joke on him a person like him should have no health issues or even deadly ones, but he got one nonetheless and even discovered late when nothing could be done.

All this has resulted in him being so hard-headed in his desire to be the strong in this world to live free and strong eternally. Let other laugh at him for what he wants to do but he doesn't need to care for others opinion. He will do what he wants to do no matter what. 

It was a quiet for a while he was waiting for the shops old lady to look over the design and give her answer. If the answer was no, he would have to go other cities to try his luck there. He had already seen too many high fantasy Dao robes in this world. He wanted something different from others and this was otherworldly when looked at in this world. 

Sadly he was not handsome to truly to bring the beauty out of this dress style. He was imagining his own self in his mind laughing and calling him a 'Fucking Weeb'. He looked at the face of the old while waiting for her answer. The old lady eye shown with eyes of interest and shock, she kept her close to the paper with the design. After half an hour she turned around and walked into the back of the back room of the shop. The door was slammed shut with only a loud voice of old lady coming out from behind it. 

"Come back tomorrow evening to collect the dress, it will cost 400 thousand Gil." 

Zou Shen bowed quietly didn't say anything and then left the shop. He couldn't wait until his dress was done; he knew the old lady could complete it quickly. She was adept at making her own designs. She was like himself a bit, going with the flow doing their own thing. If he wanted to known might as be known for his dressing style than anything else. Maybe it would be the case but later they would recognize his true strength.

Zou Shen dashed towards the renowned blacksmith shop in this city. He had the money now to shop there anyway, first he was thinking of a cheap sword to practice now he could buy one of good ones if he wanted too. He would first see the swords in the shop then see if he wanted to buy one or not. If not, he would buy a cheap one just for practice. Once he was at a decent strength, he would create one sword by himself. While he was thinking of swords, he remembered the sword which would match with his dress style. He would be hard pressed to find it in this world. He just shook his head not thinking about it anymore, his good luck was not that great anyway.

He reached the renowned blacksmith shop after dashing at high speeds, the shop was a huge building with three floors. He just went in and looked at all the different armour set pieces in rows of shelves. 'Is it a shop or a huge market.' 

He walked slowly towards the owner sitting behind a desk in a wooden chair while also looking through the swords, sending his spiritual sense throughout the shop even underground towards the basement. 

The owner of the shop was a large burly muscled middle-aged man, he had a bald head and a glorious beard with moustache. He was definition of manly man, even his aura was glorious. You could not help but say, 'Now that is a man'.

The owner got up from his wooden chair and greeted Zou Shen with a booming voice. "Welcome to my shop young man what are you looking for, armours or weapons we have it all. This is a branch shop of the empire of Iron Mountain so you can already guess the quality and authenticity of our equipment." 

Zou Shen felt his ear and body shaking hearing that loud booming voice greeting him. As if a giant mountain was saying something to a tiny ant.

'The hell is this monster doing here in this part of the world. He should be in a war zone not in a peaceful shop in a such a quiet empire.' Zou closed his eyes and calmed his body and mind.

'Should I or should I not ask.'  

"I am here for a sword to purchase....do you have a sword of this design?". Zou Shen took out the design for a Katana and handed it over to the owner. He could hear his past life friends laughing out loud at him calling him a 'Fucking Weeb'.

He just gave the design if there was any hint of a sword like this or this monster in front of him could make one through the design, He had no hope there was one anywhere in this world. 
He looked at the reaction of the burly monster in front of him to figure out if he had really seen a sword like this or not. 

'Fate works in mysterious ways. Truly mysterious that power is.' The burly owner looked at the design for a while and then Zou Shen. He was really surprised someone would come with the design for the type of sword which was found during the founding of their empire. The Iron Mountain empire had tried creating this sword again and again failing. There was only one of its kind in the world. It was a mystery how it was underneath their empire prized treasure the Iron Mountain. It was unclear who created it, or at which point in time of history it was birthed into this world. The burly man family founding ancestor was given the sword to be taken care of by their empires founder the legendary Iron Emperor. The burly man had eyes of pride when remember their glorious history. 

"Yes I have a sword of this design, its my family heirloom given to our founding ancestor by the legendary Iron Emperor." The burly man closed his eyes to think for a while. 

He opened his eyes after a while and made his final decision, "I will give you the sword I have for the price of this sword design. I will be back in a short while with the sword, look around if you need anything." The burly man said nothing more, he just went through the door behind the desk and disappeared from Zou Shen vision.

Zou Shen stood there shocked from what he heard; he was still processing the words in his mind. 'There is really a Katana in this word, it was buried in the Iron Mountain. Who created it in this world and how did it appear in this world? From my guess the owner's family has not been able to recreate the sword even after all these years. Also isn't it weird that when I cam asking for this sword, the only person who has it and can give it to me is present in the shop. In the Vivid Stone which the Iron Mountain empire would not even care for or notice so far away.' 

Somewhere far away from the Heavenly Green region in the ancient family house of the Ren Clan of the Iron Mountain Empire, the burly muscled bald man appeared. 

An old looking servant who saw the burly man appear exclaimed in reverence. "Lord Ren Song, you have returned to the Ren family house. I will go tell the current leader of your arrival."
Ren Song didn't look phased as he had just teleported from somewhere far away to the Iron Mountain empire in a short time. 

"No need to anyone I will be leaving as soon as I get our empire's secret treasure and our family heirloom. Tell that brat to come to this place from the capital city Ren branch house at all costs, tell him we have the design of the heirloom which was given to us by the one who I will giving the treasure too." Ren Song didn't even look at the servant, just ordering him to deliver the message as went straight towards the treasure vault cave of the Ren family behind the ancient family house.

When the servant heard the order his body shook with pride and strength, he dropped whatever work he was doing that instant and went towards the capital city of the Iron Mountain empire. 

Ren Song stood in front of a stone door inside a cave behind his ancient family house. The house was small, but this was where the Ren family of the ancient times was born. Even the servant who just left towards the capital was the only one who could be here other than him. That servant took care of the ancient house while Ren Song was away from the home. Only two people lived here while the rest of the Ren family or what the people of Iron Clan called them dearly. The blade of the Iron Mountain empire lived in the capital city where there was a massive part of the capital given to them to preside over. It was a city inside the capital city.

Ren Song placed his hand on the stone door. A second later the door vibrated and then it opened slowly. This was the famous Ren Vault which many in the Iron Mountain were jealous of. They didn't know that there was nothing but empty space and large cobwebs. In the middle of the huge empty vault laid a sword on a stone pedestal wrapped in red cloth and bound by a black long ribbon around it. This sword the Iron Mountain empire secret treasure, only four people knew of it. The emperor of the Iron Mountain empire, the leader of Ren Clan living the capital city, the servant who just went towards the capital city to deliver the message and Ren Song himself. 

Ren Song picked up the sword slowly and then turned around not looking back once. He walked out of the vault and stood there as the empty vault closed as he disappeared from the cave in an instant.

Join our Zǒu Shén as he tries to free in a world of martial arts and cultivation. Trying to gain more power for a chill and relax time which he is not getting.

Looking at the beautiful catgirl I had created, I did my best to suppress the drool that was subconsciously released. Business first, fun later! Lots and lots of fun later! "So, Terra, what can you tell me about all of this? The option said you would have the information…?" Right, Dale, get your head together, gotta figure out the rules first. Don't want to do anything that would end this heavenly afterlife early.

"Hmm? Oh, you mean the World Keepers, Master?" She looked to me inquisitively.

"Err, right. But just call me Dale, okay?" While being called Master was certainly appealing in its own way, it was way too distracting!

"Uh, alright Dale! And I have all of the necessary information that the system deemed important, as well as archived files regarding the last three iterations of Planet Earth." Terra said with a broad smile.

Huh, what was that? "Wait, last three?"

"That's right! Every time the Keeper is killed, the killer will inherit his position. Since each world is bound to a Keeper, the loss of the Keeper means the end of that instance." She then furrowed her brows slightly. "The records show that you killed the last Keeper, due to a car accident, so you are Earth's new Keeper."

Ahh… so that's what happened. Wait, what?! "You mean to tell me that because I hit some random guy with my truck, the entire world ended?!" You've got to be kidding me!

"That's right, Dale! Uh, is everything okay? Wah, don't be depressed!" Terra rushed over to me when I crouched down on the floor, patting me on the back. "The last Keeper's companion noted him as a 'lazy otaku, better off dead', so don't blame yourself too much, okay!?"

Somehow… I feel sorry for the last Keeper all of a sudden… he probably didn't luck out as well as I did when it came to companion personalities. Still, the whole world, just gone. All because of one insignificant car accident. What would happen if a Keeper had a heart attack then, or killed himself? Would it just go to some random person, or would the world truly be destroyed?

"Dale? Dale! If you keep this up, I'll get angry, okay!?" Terra was still trying to console me, and I looked up to see her worried expression.

"I...I'll be fine. Go ahead with the explanations, please." Distractions are good right now, and Terra was definitely the best distraction.

"Uhm, okay? Well, I guess I should start with the abilities and duties of a Keeper. Keepers create and oversee a world of their design, and guide it to prosperity. Once a world reaches a proper level of power, it is entered in the World Keeper games. In these games, you send your forces to fight against other worlds, or defend against such invasions yourself. The goal of the attacking team is to defeat the supreme existence of the other world, the Keeper."

"If a Keeper dies during the game, any worlds they control are given to the Keeper managing the winning army, and they are able to bolster their forces by creating and managing these new worlds. During the invasion, a Keeper is forced to descend, and can only use the powers or technologies which exist within the world. For instance, the last instance of Earth had the potential for instant-disintegration weapons. However, the technology level had not reached the required amount yet. So, if the world was invaded, the Keeper would not have access to that technology."

I felt my brows knit together as I tried to absorb this new information. "But, I don't remember anything in history that would suggest Earth being invaded before."

It was at that point that Terra frowned again. "No, Earth hadn't reached the level to be part of the World Keeper games yet. The previous Keeper only advanced the world enough to provide his own entertainment, and then chose to live life on the surface. At the rate that Earth was going, the previous companion estimated it would take another hundred years before the first invasion."

"Ahh… I see." I nodded my head marginally at that.

"Now, as long as you are in the Administration Room, which is where you reside by default, you are functionally immortal. You will neither age nor get sick, and nothing will be capable of hurting you. However, once you descend, your body becomes more normal. While you still cannot age, you can be killed normally by other means." Terra explained calmly, sitting down cross-legged in front of me and assuming an almost teacher-like attitude.

"In the Administration Room, you can change almost any aspects of your worlds, as long as you can afford the points to do so. You could even entirely reset your world to start from scratch, if you decided that you did not like how it was developing."

When she mentioned points, I raised my eyebrows curiously, which she apparently noticed. With a smile, she continued her speech. "Points can be gained through benchmark achievements, or participating in the games. You can also choose to descend to your world and work for points as well. To start with, you have five hundred points to spend to start your world."

"What kind of world could I make?" I decided I better find this out early on, otherwise I might be in for an even bigger surprise.

Hearing my question, Terra grinned broadly. "Theoretically, you could make any kind of world you wanted. The first iteration of Earth was one in which the Keeper tried a random-mutation path. After humans evolved, they began developing random powers. While the Keeper wasn't able to determine what powers would appear, this was still a valid strategy. After all, when he descended, he would gain all of those powers at once. His record in the game was three successful invasions defended, before a power mutated that killed him. One of the humans was born with the unfortunate ability to be a living bomb…"

"The second Earth was created as a futuristic one, complete with space travel and alien civilizations. Although the Keeper never won an invasion, he was able to create additional worlds thanks to the theme he chose. Sadly, he ran out of points trying to enhance his extra planets, and had to descend to try to earn more. It was at that time that the ship he was on was drawn into a large war, and he was killed."

"As for the third, and most recent Earth, you know all about it. The Keeper simply installed additional AI assistants as local deities to manage the world while he waited for the entertainment industry to advance far enough, then spent the rest of his days as a shut-in." Compared to the first two Keepers, who she seemed to speak about with admiration, she used a much harsher tone for the third.

"Ah… what about magic?" She didn't mention anything about a fantasy world in that. Surely, such a thing would be possible, right?

Terra nodded with a delighted smile. "Of course, magic is possible! You could choose to create a fantasy world fueled by mana, or even a world in which the inhabitants are able to increase their lifespans through martial training. Would you like me to pull up the basic packages for you to look at?"

I thought about it, and then nodded to accept her proposal. She seemed rather happy that I was over my brief bout of depression, and almost instantly a window appeared describing different options available to me.

<<
[Technological World | World Size 5 - 40 points
Technology Affinity- 20 points
Education - 10 points | Package - 70 points]

[Cultivation World | World Size 7 - 60 points
Martial Affinity- 10 points
Pseudomagic Affinity- 10 points
Longevity- 30 points | Package - 110 points]


[ Fantasy World | World Size 6 - 50 points
Magic Affinity - 20 points
Extra Sapient Races- 30 points | Package - 100 points]

[Mutant World | World Size 4 - 30 points
Randomized Mutation - 100 points | Package - 130 points]

[Custom World | World Size 1 - 0 points |Package - 0 points]
>>

These packages don't seem very extensive… I looked suspiciously at Terra, who simply smiled. "Don't worry, there are way more options to choose from after you pick a starting package. These are just here to help you get started."

I nodded slightly, and selected the Fantasy World package. Magic has always fascinated me, and watching a real world evolve with magic would be really cool. Suddenly, the scenery around us changed. No longer were we in a grey landscape, but instead we seemed to be standing miles above the surface of a lush, green planet. Down below, I could faintly make out trees, lakes, and mountains in the distance.

"Alright, that's step one!" Terra called out happily, raising her arms in triumph. Must not look at those glorious, bouncing hills. Must focus! "Now, since this package included 'Extra Sapient Races', you can design up to ten species to place as the sapient races of this world. Each one starts with base human abilities, which can be increased or lowered to effect their point total. If the total is a positive amount after adjustments, then you will need to pay additional points to finalize the race."

"Don't worry, because you don't need to create all ten right away. Any race slots that you don't use will be saved for later." Terra explained with a quick nod, so I got to work on another window that appeared in front of me.

____________________________________________
Race Name                   |   _______________
Comprehension           | 7
Agility                            |  5
Strength                        | 5
Lifespan                        |  75
Luck                               |   5
Awareness                    |  4
Male:Female ratio        |  1.06
Example Adult Male     |   Example Adult                               
                                        |    Female
_________________________________________
Racial Abilities
__________________________________________
For the first one, I decided to just leave it at default, filling the race name as 'Human'. No matter what world you go to, humans are definitely the staple race, right? As for the second one… naturally it had to be elf, right? I tried to fine-tune it for the elves, and had to adjust some things.

Of course, an elf's lifespan can't be as low as 75 years, so I increased that to 600. This brought the point cost of the race to 10, so I reduced their Comprehension to 5, and raised their Agility to 6. This should, hopefully, make them learn more at the pace that their bodies develop, while also making them faster than humans. Next, I gave them the second level of Magic Affinity for another 20 points.

I made a few more adjustments, until finally I came up with this.

____________________________________________
Race Name              |  Elf
____________________________________________
Comprehension       |  5 
____________________________________________
Agility                        |  6
____________________________________________
Strength                    |  5
____________________________________________
Lifespan                    |  600
____________________________________________
Luck                           |  5 
____________________________________________
Awareness                |  6
____________________________________________
Male:Female ratio    |  0.89
____________________________________________
Example Adult Male |   Example Adult Female
____________________________________________
Racial Abilities
- Magical Affinity 2
____________________________________________

Okay, that should be good for that race. I nodded to myself, before I got to work on the other races. Aside from the elves, most of them balanced out fairly well when I tweaked their stats. In total, I made dwarves, halflings, and beastkin(cats, dogs, bears, and foxes). That left me with two extra race slots, which I decided to save for later. Maybe I'd make demons and dragons once the world developed more?

"Ready now, Dale?" Terra asked curiously, to which I nodded without fully understanding what she meant. "Okay! Now, we're going to fast-forward the planet by a few millennia until your world has a population of about eighty-thousand. That will be a good time to start developing culture, and choosing your magic system!"

Before I had a chance to react to that, the scenery below us began rapidly moving. The tiny figures that dotted the ground ran about at high speeds, with day and night passing in the blink of an eye. "Wh-what? What do you mean magic system?" I asked after I managed to compose myself. The shock of the world suddenly going at high speeds had startled me for a moment.

"Hmm? Oh, there are various types of magic you can 'install' on the planet. For instance, you could go with a rune language that rewrites the fabric of reality. You could install gods that manage certain aspects of the world, and grant their followers power related to their domains. You could even choose to have the magic work either through imagination or geometric formulas!"

"Ah…" Wow… there were way more options here than I had expected. Then again, I didn't really know what to expect in the first place. "What about culture?"

"Same thing." She replied with a shrug. "Though, with culture, you can just choose to leave it at default and let them develop naturally. If you wish to guide them down a specific path, that will cost additional points."

I nodded my head slightly, and took a look at  my remaining points. 350 left… I could probably afford some pretty cool things with that? Though, judging by how expensive some things have been, I should probably spend sparingly.

Dale Mitchell, your average guy in a below-average job. But, what happens to him is anything but average. After hitting someone in his truck, his world was turned upside down, inside out, and more than fifty shades of grey.

Now, he seems to be something called a World Keeper, and must create and manage his own world. Is this his afterlife, or something else entirely?


karami92

The bright light slowly subsided, and Foo noticed that he stood in the corner of a lively plaza.

"Welcome to the city of beginnings" Sounded a monotone and almost lifeless voice.

Looking around and Foo saw that he was standing inside some sort of ritual circle. And the listless voice belonged to some sort of official that was seated close by. He had the airs of an veteran; one could feel that he had been saying that single sentence innumerable times, and was almost bored to death by it. Although his neat and scholarly robes, along with his frail build, indicated that he was not a warrior, it seemed like he would gladly pick up a sword and charge towards unbeatable enemies, just to vent his frustrations of this boring task.

By looking around to further assess his current situation, Foo noticed that there was multiple of these `teleportation circles` around, and further away was a queue of people stepping inside another lone circle, that seemed to be an outgoing teleportation circle, instead of the multiple incoming ones like the one he had come through.

The people in the queue all had medieval outfits. A couple of knights could be spotted, some that looked like priests, some merchant-like but most looked like the classical adventurers.

"Please step out of the teleportation circle, so that others may use it" Sounded the same dull voice again. Foo then quickly stepped outside of the circle, as one could not be sure if there were any kind of fail-safe that prevented another person to be teleported to the same space he occupied.

By tallying the facts Foo came to the conclusion that after he died, he was sent to this medieval world by the God. Although it could be much worse, he still felt pained over the fact that computers were most likely not existing in such a setting. But suddenly he came back to his senses. ``Priests? Teleportation circles? Magic!!`` Elated, Foo realized that it was quite likely, no actually it was a fact, that magic existed in this world. Magic! How could one not be ecstatic about magic?

And magic could explain why he suddenly had a body, although just some moments before he was just a soul. At that thought he looked down on his body, intent on figuring out the status of his new being.

He found out that his body was like the one he had before, and the clothes he was wearing was now that of a adventurer, not unlike some in the outgoing queue. It even came with a sword, a dagger and a pouch, which after further investigation showed to contain some coins. One golden coin, ten silver coins and ten copper coins.

The clothes was much more stiff than he was used to, although it was probably because it was much more resistant than just normal clothes. As it seemed to be able to protect against some minor attacks, the discomfort would probably be well worth it.

The whole getup reminded him of the fully immersive virtual reality role playing fantasy games he had played back home. Although even after some extensive testing, he could not bring up any kind of menu or status screen.

A bit disappointed that there where no game elements he was at a loss on what to do next. A game would be helpful enough to provide a tutorial, not that he usually would follow it if he could exploit *cough* explore on his own anyway, but it would be nice to fall back on when unsure on what to do. 

Another glance at the official and he got the feeling that if he were to initiate a dialog to ask some questions, he would either get into a fight as the official was obviously fed up with his job, or the official would get excited to have something to do, and thus Foo would never be able to escape from the constant blabbering of unimportant information.

Neither of the possibilities was desired, as such he resigned to his circumstances and strolled over the plaza that was filled with people passing to and fro. The plaza had different kind of stands that was selling merchandise. There was food, armor, weapons, potions and curious artifacts.

Although he was interested in the artifacts, he knew for sure that this should be a tourist trap with way higher prices and lower quality than reasonable. And he also had no idea of the value of the currency, not even the exchange rate between the different denominations. 

It could be dangerous to even look too closely at the artifact, because from the sly eyes of the seller one could be assure that if they started to speak you would end up penniless with nothing but junk in your pockets. These was masters of their trade, even if you came prepared, as long as they could sense any tiny bit of weakness they would certainly exploit you for maximum of profits.

So Foo quickly left the plaza with only a few glances on the items for sale. The feeling of relief when he exited the plaza was not to far from how it would have been to exit an ocean filled with sharks that were sniffing for blood that you might spill if you were careless.

 As a newcomer to this world, Foo knew there was only one thing that he could do in this situation. Register as an adventurer! Anyone would know that this is the proper action to take when arriving in a fantasy world. Of course, there might be a possibility that there were no such thing, but Foo had spotted quite some people that was looking quite like adventurers. There might not be a classical adventurers' guild, but he sure as hell would try to find it if it indeed does exist.

Of course, the next action after that would be to hunt some goblins or similar in the surroundings. A game would have some tutorial and quests as introduction, but this seemed more like a fantasy world, and thus the adventurer path was most likely the correct one.

Foo was no stranger to either games or fantasy worlds. In fact he was quite the avid player of the fully immersive virtual reality games in his old world. He was quite the skilled warrior, although he liked magic more. Of course, normally he could not use much of his martial knowledge in the real world, as the body in the real world was quite different from that in the games.

However currently his body felt free from the constraints that he had in the old world. It felt as if the body was able to follow his mind on a completely different level. He was confident that he could use all the hours of playing martial games to his advantage, were he to be in a fight.

 Foo suddenly snapped out of his thoughts as he arrived in front of an imposing building. The words `Adventurers' guild` was hanging above the doors. ``Lucky!`` He thought, although it was more probable it was by design that you could travel directly between the plaza with teleportation circles and the Adventurers' guild. As it was clearly an important building.

Without any hesitation whatsoever, Foo pushed open the doors and entered.

Foo, a bright young man that happens to be a computer genius, who excels in life by taking shortcuts when possible. If life was a game, he would definitely pick the easiest mode.

        Exams in school? Just read all the books once, and make sure you don’t forget the contents.

        Looking for a job? Make sure everyone around the boss knows just how perfect you are for the job. Having others bragging about your excellence is more trustworthy and gives plausible deniability.

        Quiz time? Let me just start my special search engine's voice recognition.

        Competing in soccer? Aw, how unfortunate, the opposing team 'somehow' got their clothes filled with itch-inducing powder, leading to a walkover.

        Playing a FPS game? Well, lets just have my own mouse driver software get some headshots while I watch a movie. It’s perfectly legit, as it just speeds up the response time so that it clicks before I even get to the computer.

        Gambling sites and online casinos? Data-mining, number-crunching and image recognition! By utilizing computer knowledge, solving problems is easy!

        Some might get jealous, but hey! Just be like me, and use your brains for once!

However, in the modern era, the gangsters and other shady businesses are moving their turfs towards the internet and gaming circles.

What happens when they realize that Foo was a threat to their profits?

Well, no suspense here, they killed him.




That’s the end of story... if you are to believe the god that greets him after his death.

However, can this story get a fresh new start when Foo somehow ends up in a game-like medieval fantasy world?

Or will the lack of modern tools, like his beloved computers or other modern conveniences, cut his story short yet again?








------------------------------

Also, thanks to SageDrunkKitty and Remteldanmarkius for proofreading the synopsis! Any errors still there are their fault!
The fact that I might not have listened on them does not automatically make it my fault, okay?

Looking at the beautiful catgirl I had created, I did my best to suppress the drool that was subconsciously released. Business first, fun later! Lots and lots of fun later! "So, Terra, what can you tell me about all of this? The option said you would have the information…?" Right, Dale, get your head together, gotta figure out the rules first. Don't want to do anything that would end this heavenly afterlife early.

"Hmm? Oh, you mean the World Keepers, Master?" She looked to me inquisitively.

"Err, right. But just call me Dale, okay?" While being called Master was certainly appealing in its own way, it was way too distracting!

"Uh, alright Dale! And I have all of the necessary information that the system deemed important, as well as archived files regarding the last three iterations of Planet Earth." Terra said with a broad smile.

Huh, what was that? "Wait, last three?"

"That's right! Every time the Keeper is killed, the killer will inherit his position. Since each world is bound to a Keeper, the loss of the Keeper means the end of that instance." She then furrowed her brows slightly. "The records show that you killed the last Keeper, due to a car accident, so you are Earth's new Keeper."

Ahh… so that's what happened. Wait, what?! "You mean to tell me that because I hit some random guy with my truck, the entire world ended?!" You've got to be kidding me!

"That's right, Dale! Uh, is everything okay? Wah, don't be depressed!" Terra rushed over to me when I crouched down on the floor, patting me on the back. "The last Keeper's companion noted him as a 'lazy otaku, better off dead', so don't blame yourself too much, okay!?"

Somehow… I feel sorry for the last Keeper all of a sudden… he probably didn't luck out as well as I did when it came to companion personalities. Still, the whole world, just gone. All because of one insignificant car accident. What would happen if a Keeper had a heart attack then, or killed himself? Would it just go to some random person, or would the world truly be destroyed?

"Dale? Dale! If you keep this up, I'll get angry, okay!?" Terra was still trying to console me, and I looked up to see her worried expression.

"I...I'll be fine. Go ahead with the explanations, please." Distractions are good right now, and Terra was definitely the best distraction.

"Uhm, okay? Well, I guess I should start with the abilities and duties of a Keeper. Keepers create and oversee a world of their design, and guide it to prosperity. Once a world reaches a proper level of power, it is entered in the World Keeper games. In these games, you send your forces to fight against other worlds, or defend against such invasions yourself. The goal of the attacking team is to defeat the supreme existence of the other world, the Keeper."

"If a Keeper dies during the game, any worlds they control are given to the Keeper managing the winning army, and they are able to bolster their forces by creating and managing these new worlds. During the invasion, a Keeper is forced to descend, and can only use the powers or technologies which exist within the world. For instance, the last instance of Earth had the potential for instant-disintegration weapons. However, the technology level had not reached the required amount yet. So, if the world was invaded, the Keeper would not have access to that technology."

I felt my brows knit together as I tried to absorb this new information. "But, I don't remember anything in history that would suggest Earth being invaded before."

It was at that point that Terra frowned again. "No, Earth hadn't reached the level to be part of the World Keeper games yet. The previous Keeper only advanced the world enough to provide his own entertainment, and then chose to live life on the surface. At the rate that Earth was going, the previous companion estimated it would take another hundred years before the first invasion."

"Ahh… I see." I nodded my head marginally at that.

"Now, as long as you are in the Administration Room, which is where you reside by default, you are functionally immortal. You will neither age nor get sick, and nothing will be capable of hurting you. However, once you descend, your body becomes more normal. While you still cannot age, you can be killed normally by other means." Terra explained calmly, sitting down cross-legged in front of me and assuming an almost teacher-like attitude.

"In the Administration Room, you can change almost any aspects of your worlds, as long as you can afford the points to do so. You could even entirely reset your world to start from scratch, if you decided that you did not like how it was developing."

When she mentioned points, I raised my eyebrows curiously, which she apparently noticed. With a smile, she continued her speech. "Points can be gained through benchmark achievements, or participating in the games. You can also choose to descend to your world and work for points as well. To start with, you have five hundred points to spend to start your world."

"What kind of world could I make?" I decided I better find this out early on, otherwise I might be in for an even bigger surprise.

Hearing my question, Terra grinned broadly. "Theoretically, you could make any kind of world you wanted. The first iteration of Earth was one in which the Keeper tried a random-mutation path. After humans evolved, they began developing random powers. While the Keeper wasn't able to determine what powers would appear, this was still a valid strategy. After all, when he descended, he would gain all of those powers at once. His record in the game was three successful invasions defended, before a power mutated that killed him. One of the humans was born with the unfortunate ability to be a living bomb…"

"The second Earth was created as a futuristic one, complete with space travel and alien civilizations. Although the Keeper never won an invasion, he was able to create additional worlds thanks to the theme he chose. Sadly, he ran out of points trying to enhance his extra planets, and had to descend to try to earn more. It was at that time that the ship he was on was drawn into a large war, and he was killed."

"As for the third, and most recent Earth, you know all about it. The Keeper simply installed additional AI assistants as local deities to manage the world while he waited for the entertainment industry to advance far enough, then spent the rest of his days as a shut-in." Compared to the first two Keepers, who she seemed to speak about with admiration, she used a much harsher tone for the third.

"Ah… what about magic?" She didn't mention anything about a fantasy world in that. Surely, such a thing would be possible, right?

Terra nodded with a delighted smile. "Of course, magic is possible! You could choose to create a fantasy world fueled by mana, or even a world in which the inhabitants are able to increase their lifespans through martial training. Would you like me to pull up the basic packages for you to look at?"

I thought about it, and then nodded to accept her proposal. She seemed rather happy that I was over my brief bout of depression, and almost instantly a window appeared describing different options available to me.

Technological WorldWorld Size 5 - 40 points
Technology Affinity- 20 points
Education - 10 pointsPackage - 70 pointsCultivation WorldWorld Size 7 - 60 points
Martial Affinity- 10 points
Pseudomagic Affinity- 10 points
Longevity- 30 pointsPackage - 110 pointsFantasy WorldWorld Size 6 - 50 points
Magic Affinity- 20 points
Extra Sapient Races- 30 pointsPackage - 100 pointsMutant WorldWorld Size 4 - 30 points
Randomized Mutation - 100 pointsPackage - 130 pointsCustom WorldWorld Size 1 - 0 pointsPackage - 0 points



These packages don't seem very extensive…I looked suspiciously at Terra, who simply smiled. "Don't worry, there are way more options to choose from after you pick a starting package. These are just here to help you get started."

I nodded slightly, and selected the Fantasy World package. Magic has always fascinated me, and watching a real world evolve with magic would be really cool. Suddenly, the scenery around us changed. No longer were we in a grey landscape, but instead we seemed to be standing miles above the surface of a lush, green planet. Down below, I could faintly make out trees, lakes, and mountains in the distance.

"Alright, that's step one!" Terra called out happily, raising her arms in triumph. Must not look at those glorious, bouncing hills. Must focus! "Now, since this package included 'Extra Sapient Races', you can design up to ten species to place as the sapient races of this world. Each one starts with base human abilities, which can be increased or lowered to effect their point total. If the total is a positive amount after adjustments, then you will need to pay additional points to finalize the race."

"Don't worry, because you don't need to create all ten right away. Any race slots that you don't use will be saved for later." Terra explained with a quick nod, so I got to work on another window that appeared in front of me.

Race Name_______________Comprehension7Agility5Strength5Lifespan75Luck5Awareness4Male:Female ratio1.06Example Adult MaleExample Adult FemaleRacial Abilities



For the first one, I decided to just leave it at default, filling the race name as 'Human'. No matter what world you go to, humans are definitely the staple race, right? As for the second one… naturally it had to be elf, right? I tried to fine-tune it for the elves, and had to adjust some things.

Of course, an elf's lifespan can't be as low as 75 years, so I increased that to 600. This brought the point cost of the race to 10, so I reduced their Comprehension to 5, and raised their Agility to 6. This should, hopefully, make them learn more at the pace that their bodies develop, while also making them faster than humans. Next, I gave them the second level of Magic Affinity for another 20 points.

I made a few more adjustments, until finally I came up with this.

Race NameElfComprehension5Agility6Strength5Lifespan600Luck5Awareness6Male:Female ratio0.89Example Adult MaleExample Adult FemaleRacial Abilities
- Magical Affinity 2



Okay, that should be good for that race. I nodded to myself, before I got to work on the other races. Aside from the elves, most of them balanced out fairly well when I tweaked their stats. In total, I made dwarves, halflings, and beastkin(cats, dogs, bears, and foxes). That left me with two extra race slots, which I decided to save for later. Maybe I'd make demons and dragons once the world developed more?

"Ready now, Dale?" Terra asked curiously, to which I nodded without fully understanding what she meant. "Okay! Now, we're going to fast-forward the planet by a few millennia until your world has a population of about eighty-thousand. That will be a good time to start developing culture, and choosing your magic system!"

Before I had a chance to react to that, the scenery below us began rapidly moving. The tiny figures that dotted the ground ran about at high speeds, with day and night passing in the blink of an eye. "Wh-what? What do you mean magic system?" I asked after I managed to compose myself. The shock of the world suddenly going at high speeds had startled me for a moment.

"Hmm? Oh, there are various types of magic you can 'install' on the planet. For instance, you could go with a rune language that rewrites the fabric of reality. You could install gods that manage certain aspects of the world, and grant their followers power related to their domains. You could even choose to have the magic work either through imagination or geometric formulas!"

"Ah…" Wow… there were way more options here than I had expected. Then again, I didn't really know what to expect in the first place. "What about culture?"

"Same thing." She replied with a shrug. "Though, with culture, you can just choose to leave it at default and let them develop naturally. If you wish to guide them down a specific path, that will cost additional points."

I nodded my head slightly, and took a look at  my remaining points. 350 left… I could probably afford some pretty cool things with that? Though, judging by how expensive some things have been, I should probably spend sparingly.

A bright light soon filled the sky as the sun started rising across the horizon. This light was only amplified by the millions of reflective glass planes and metals that comprised the towering mega-buildings that extended as far as the eye could see. It was 6:25 AM December 10, 2278, on this day it seemed as if the entire planet had come alive. Nearly 200 billion people crowded the streets of every mega city on the planet awaiting the launch of the new virtual reality game Slate, as well as the game's new managing system called T.E.R.R.A. 

Ever since the rise of the age of technology in the 21st century, mankind has experienced a rise in consumerism on a scale that dwarfed the entire previous 20 centuries combined. As technology advanced and population grew, this mass consumerism only increased. In addition to these factors the United Nations of Earth formed in 2175 after the brink of World War III. After a decade of logistical management and agreements, the United Nations of Earth paved the way towards a golden age of peace and prosperity. With a complacent populace, unbridled population growth, and no more world conflict it was only natural for mankind to look towards the entertainment industry to provide excitement in their daily lives. All of these factors led to the explosive rise of virtual reality games and entertainment, and Slate was the largest most anticipated game of the century. Slate featured a magical fantasy world a hundred times the size of Earth. It's name was derived from its design philosophy of a blank slate. Players had no levels and started without any classes. However the players could choose from dozens of base races and any starting city location in the enormous fantasy world. Players would then be able to forge their own identities as they completed quests and explored the vast world. While there were no levels, players could discover and earn classes and skills. In addition to this a player could evolve and improve those classes, skills, and even their race as time went on. This pure freedom, coupled with meaningful player skill instead of levels excited billions of people to no end. On top of this Slate was releasing the T.E.R.R.A system which was an A.I. like no other. T.E.R.R.A ensured the stability of Slate's single ever evolving mega server. It made sure the entire world of Slate was connected and that the entire game was one single interactive ever changing world.

With the Sun shining down the entire world exploded into action. The billions upon billions of waiting people flooded the millions of electronics shops and entertainment stores around the globe. The scene looked like that of a zombie apocalypse, but instead of hordes of zombies swarming human survivors, it was hordes of humans swarming poor store employees to purchase Slate's neural game chip. Of course these were the billions of people who wanted to purchase the game in person, billions more awaited the delivery of their game chips from their local regions delivery companies. However with so many orders the delivery services would be swamped for the next month and no one would know when their gaming chip would arrive. Hence almost 200 billion people waited for the opening day of Slate at their local retailers. 

Watching one such apocalyptic scene from a rundown apartment in an old housing district, was a young woman gazing out her apartment's window. This young woman seemed about 22 years of age and covered in filth. Wearing old sweatpants and a grey hoodie to keep warm, this young woman was the complete opposite of a young energetic college graduate. Stains riddled her cheap clothes and trash littered the apartment. Her long black hair was greasy and disheveled as though it hadn't been washed for weeks. Her face might have been considered above average if it wasn't grease smeared and sunken. On top of this her figure was almost anorexic and starved making her look like a skin covered skeleton. This woman was none other than Alexandria Ziv. 

Originally a young and budding college student, Alexandria attended United Nations North American Institute of Technology and Design, otherwise known as NA Technical Institute. Having come from a lower class family in the slums of the mega city Los Angeles. Alexandria fought tooth and nail to obtain a full ride scholarship to the most prestigious university in the North American region. Having obtained the scholarship she began living the dream life of any young adult. She worked on campus after classes to earn spending money and pay rent, while her school expenses were completely covered by her scholarship. Alexandria had a stable group of friends whom she met at work, and a loving family completely supportive of her hard work and attendance of college. However all good things come to an end and some endings are worse than others. In her fourth year of college her father suddenly died in a factory accident when an assembly line went haywire and exploded after a mechanical error and chemical buildup. Alexandria's family, poor as is had no life insurance and barely any savings to begin with. Her father's death impacted the family and in her grief, Alexandria's mother looked towards her. Alexandria however only worked part time and her income could in no way sustain her mother and younger siblings. At the same time Alexandria was still in college and had no way to feasibly work full time. Eventually stress and grief provoked argument after argument and Alexandria's relationship with her mother rotted. Her mother wanted her to drop out of college and work full time to sustain the family, when Alexandria suggested her mother get a job things escalated. Despite being poor, Alexandria's mother had always been an entitled person and spendthrift. Her spending habits being one of the reasons the family could barely save money to begin with. Alexandria's father was what kept the family together and happy. When he died, the lock that kept Alexandria's mother in check and happy broke. All of this led to Alexandria being cutoff from her mother and by extension her two younger brothers. On top of all of this not even a month later, Alexandria lost her scholarship, friends, and job all in one single terrible day.

That day started like any other. Alex (as her friends liked to call her) went to class from 9 to 5, and then went to the student store on campus to work part time from 5:30 to 8. When Alex arrived for work she was accosted by campus security and brought to a police interrogation room before she could so much as protest. Stunned she had no idea what she had down to warrant this interrogation. When the investigator arrived he brought three hand written testimonies by her fellow employees that she was skimming the cash registers tills causing the discrepancy between items sold and daily income in the stores computer system. When Alex read the names of the three employees she felt surreal as if reality had been turned on its head. Those three names where her three best friends Josephine, Christine, and Mark. Soon that sense of surrealism turned to hate as her memories flashed by her. She remembered asking where Mark had gotten his new pair of sunglasses and watch from, as they were clearly brands a part time college student could never afford. Mark had laughed it off and claimed he ran into some good luck and she had left it at that. Only now did Alex realize he was skimming the registers at their workplace. On top of this the other two people she thought were her best friends, sold her out in favor of protecting Mark. However she had no physical evidence of any kind and camera evidence could not be used, as transactions were digital meaning a cashier would have had to have bugged a cash register in order to steal from the store. All of this only left testimony and accusations. Alexandria being a scholarship student enrolled as a computer engineering major meant she certainly had the ability to bug the cash registers. Alex was also from an extremely poor family in an area notorious for crime. All of these things made her the perfect scapegoat for her "friends" to pin the petty crime on. Despite Alexandria's protests and appeals the school authorities revoked her scholarship and expelled her from the school. On top of this local police forced her to serve a month of mandatory community service to make up for her misdemeanor. This entire chain of events left Alexandria broken.

It was already hard enough to find a job as is, especially in a world where almost everything has been automated and improved upon. Having a record didn't make things any easier for Alex as well. With no job and income. Alex only had enough savings to pay for for 3 months of rent and maybe junk food that was on sale at the local market. If Alex couldn't find source of income after three months she would be homeless. However there was a glimmer of hope and that was the game set to release during the last month of her rent, the game called Slate.

The year is 2278, the pinnacle of virtual reality technology Slate has been released. This VRRPG has enthralled the world and tens of billions play on its servers everyday. At the same time a downtrodden young outcast is on the verge of homelessness. Forsaken by family, lacking friends, social connections, and even a mattress to sleep on there are seemingly no outs for this young woman. However with the advent of Slate, an entirely new market has been created where soon trillions of credits will be exchanged in an ever changing game that anyone can enter. Can Alexandria succeed in this new world, or will everything come tumbling down? See as the Arch-Angel, Hand of God, Divine Light Alexandria rises from humble beginnings to soon dominate the world of Slate.

Aura thought that everyone's dismissal of the game's lore strange.

Yeah sure it was just a game, but most fantasy games had at least some sort of lore that wasn't just information on the monsters or skill usage and techniques.

There were some who pursued the hidden lore and lost histories in Ascendance, but no organizations, no guilds, there wasn't even a proper library for history.

Most libraries in Ascendance just contained info on areas, monsters, items and more info.

Only a kingdom's royal library contained anything history related, and that was at most diaries of famous individuals from the past.

The only other place one could find history was in the various churches scattered across the land, and again, they only had diaries or accounts of myths.

Otherwise, history was passed on orally.

If you consider the fact that any written account of the era would one day simply disappear, it did make a little sense that nobody bothered, but that information could still last for thousands of years.

It didn't help that Forgotten Industries had publicly stated that the game was more to help people have fun and blow off steam than it was to have players explore the fascinating history of a fantasy world.

Not to mention that if one wanted interesting stories, there were plenty of fiction books in the bookstores you could find in every city in the entire realm.

To put things simply, the only books you could find in the entire game were works of fiction, encyclopedias, and diaries.

There were also the research documents that you could find in the personal stashes of mages and other magically inclined individuals, but those were mostly factored under the 'diary' section.

Even the book that documented the travels and studies of godhood that Aura had found was little more than an encyclopedia with specialized knowledge bordering on a diary of the author's personal researches.

Admittedly, a great amount of historical information could be gleaned from the categories of books stated above, but it wasn't something an individual could parse out.

Which was why only large guilds even bothered searching for tidbits of useful knowledge in libraries.

It was way easier just to ask an elf, or some other long lived species.

Even a high leveled human would know more about history than the books.

This could be considered as another reason why history wasn't written down, but this was obviously a bad idea.

High leveled individuals had a tendency to be weirdos.

Long lived species tended to isolate themselves and distrust outsiders.

If you asked the former about history, there was no guarantee you wouldn't just be told a bunch of random bullshit designed to see how much you would believe.

If you asked the latter, you were likely to be given a polite 'fuck off' and then not get an answer at all.

This was probably best described as brilliant world design.

Weirdos lived forever (which probably explained why the gods all had strange personalities), and those who did live long lives and weren't completely insane were loners.

There were exceptions, but for the most part, humans were completely ignorant of the world they lived in.

There were also a ton of them.

The only reason humans had survived for any length of time in the world of Ascendance was almost certainly due to the fact that most monsters preferred to stay away from areas with high concentrations of life energy.

And since humans were brimming with life, they were avoided by monsters.

Lucky them.

---

Aura had just finished dismantling the last of the traps, and was quite literally jumping with joy.

He had been bored out of his mind due to the monotony of his task, and had only pushed through because of the light at the end of the road.

A kingdom core, the perfect thing for someone like him, who ruled absolutely nothing, and instead was more interested in exploration and the creation of interesting items.

Only one item he planned to make would require the core, as it just didn't have much use to him.

So what if he could make small changes to large areas at once, he didn't even have a large area to change in the first place.

But he had thought of making a beautiful item that would allow total control over a massive domain, and as such he was bound by his own obsessions to make it.

Aura Thompson, one of the most unknown experts in the DMMORPG known as Ascendance, dies of old age, only to find that his final wish has been granted and that he can start again on his path to immortality through the fantasy game he loves.

Read as Aura uses his knowledge of mankind's second world to chase after his dream.

He knows all the secrets that players uncovered over the 132 years he played the game: quests, classes, skills, hidden treasures, lore, and all sorts of things that could tip the balance of the world in his favor.

How far will he go?

"So you want me to do what?"

[Conqueror Mode is the best for right now as you will be taken into one of the worlds/universes inside Aeris and can freely develop there. What you are lacking right now is not cultivation base though it could be better it should be enough for now, but what you are lacking the most is more social activity.

You can battle against the monster and beast but never a human or those with this intelligence. These have no intelligence and their attack pattern is quite obvious, but if you fight against a human with how you are now you will lose.

To fix this you need to fight against people and understand politics better which conqueror mode will help also you can refine your skills inside the world since you have a lot of skills but have not refined them for you to use as max level means you can use the full potential not that you wield to it best power.

 The gifts that I was talking about before is that you get 1 free world in Conqueror Mode along with 3 free challenges inside this mode. I will give you a recommended list to for you to choose.]

"So what are the recommendations?"

[There are a total of 3 choices to choose from and they are 3 Imaginat Universe. There are 3 types are universes Primordus, Minorus, and Imaginat Universes. 

The primordus universe is universe either formed by Primordal Realm experts or naturally formed using Primordal Energy, these universes are not possible for Aeris to recreate for now at least. Regis is this type of universe.

Minoris are universe created by people below Primordal Realm or were naturally formed using any energy below Primordal. They are dived into 5 levels from lesser, lower, mid, higher, and supreme levels. Earth is lesser.

Imagine Universe are universe created on ideas of people like Anime's, games, and etc. Each time someone daydream a new universe is formed, but at another time so are destroyed too. They have categories like sci-fi, magic and swords, action, fantasy, eastern fantasy, and etc to find them or novels, games, and etc.  

The chooses are Elder Scrolls, Against the Gods, or Naruto. Now all of these are involve humans and politics to certain instants and why I choose them is because you know how the universe works and the gist of the timeline.]

"Naruto, there is no if, and, buts about it. There are several 'pontentail' in that workd. Plus I have a Naruto loot box so using in there will make it easier for me."

[Just so you know some of your powers will be sealed and you will be a child at 3-4 when you reincarnate, but you can design his bloodline and I will create a parallel universe so that you can start in. You can only keep one of your 3 bloodlines that you will be able to use in that world while you can have a total of 3 from that universe when your in it, but the deletion will be limited.]

"Can I still use my DP and loot box and packages?"

[Mostly No]

"Let me use my wish slips then I want to have at all of my dragon, Chaos Star God, and Incubus  bloodlines in Naruto and get to have more choices, I want to use my DP and loot boxes and Packages and be able to fuse."

[Alright you can have 5,000,000 of your DP transferred when you go to the world, you can have both of the 2 bloodlines you want but your dragon bloodline and star god will be sealed along with the skills until you unlock them gradually through missions, the loot boxes and packages can be brought to the universe but only the beginner pack and naruto loot box, and finally you can choose up to 7 bloodlines at the max along with some skills that will carry over too like shadow clone jutsu Thousand Cuts, Assassinate, whip skills, sword skills, and maybe a few other skills.

You will not have the Heaven style,  Falce has to stay out, the weapons you own, and your titles for jobs like blacksmith will be limited down to Transcendent Realm as Sword of Kusanagi is at Immortal level. This will cost you almost all of your wish tickets with only leaving you 3 left. Do you accept?]

"Yes"

Dreams are one of the pleasant things people enjoy the most as it contains their wildest imaginations where what they want can be fulfilled that many enjoy and look forward to, but not all dreams are good as they can be "harmful"too.
----------------

Cover is not by me I just found it and liked as a cover for now
--
Guaranteed 1 chapter per week.
May have 7 chapters per week

It was about thirty centimeters in diameter, likely a plate-shaped pedestal. It didn't have a very complicated design, just three pieces of interlocking framework. Among all the parts scattered around, it didn't stand out, though its existence had still caught Chen Mu's attention.
Chen Mu was drawn over to it because there were three cards placed on it.
The three cards were separately placed on the three metal arms, each of which had a card slot. Among the three cards, one was a power card, one was a jet stream card, while another was a three-star fantasy card.
Since he was involved with cards, Chen Mu had quickly sorted it out. The three-star fantasy card could emit a jujube-pit shaped energy cloak, probably to shield the activity of the pedestal. If it weren't for his having just restored an energy cloak card, he wouldn't have recognized what kind of card it was. Still the energy cloak card there in front of him was a lot different from the one he had restored.
Chen Mu became very interested as he looked the card appliance over carefully. Although he didn't understand the basic principles of the appliance, he could discern its designer's idea about the usage of the cards. It was the first time he'd seen a card appliance that could utilize two cards at the same time.
"Is Brother Yao interested in card appliances too?" A voice came suddenly from behind.
Chen Mu looked up to see that person who had just been asking about him, the silver-haired muscular guy called Spanner.
Having just seen all those guys about to give the car a test run, Chen Mu asked without answering, "Why aren't you watching the trial?"
Spanner grinned, and said with some disapproval, "Anything Hua Hua makes is certainly pretty good. But real troubleshooting isn't something you would see in a test run. It would require going through specialized debugging. I'm guessing Phoenix isn't patient enough for that."
Thinking of Phoenix's temperament, Chen Mu concurred, "You got that right."
"I never would have thought that little brother Yao could copy the 'mud fish.'" Really awesome!" I doubt that even Zuo Tingyi could have succeeded. There really are some crouching tigers and hidden dragons in that sponsorship section!" Spanner was looking at Chen Mu with a great deal of interest, though there was something hidden in what he said.
Chen Mu was chilled, never having considered that making "mud fish" could give Spanner such ideas.
"It would be pretty simple for him to do." Chen Mu said casually. He wouldn't admit how hard it was, since that be the same as calling himself awesome.
Spanner was startled, since what Chen Mu had just said made it seem that he was very familiar with Zuo Tingyi.
He was cut off in the middle of chewing over the hidden meaning of what Chen Mu had just said.
"What is this?" Chen Mu was pointing at the plate shaped pedestal on the ground.
"This is a flight apparatus that I made. I'm preparing it for a defensive competition, haha, it's pretty rough, don't hesitate to give advice, little brother Yao." Although Spanner was big and gruff, when he talked there would be back and forth unlike those types without a brain.
"Defensive competition?"
"An activity among the societies, where flight apparatuses fly through a net of firepower, with the last to hit the target winning. It was originally to test the maneuverability of flight apparatuses, and the skills of the contestants. Ho Ho, I'm pretty thick, and I can only come up with dumb ideas.
"You're using a fantasy card? An energy cloak?"
Ha Ha, Little Brother Yao picked it right out. Indeed, I'm thinking why not just add a shield to it, harden its resistance, like going through a loophole." Spanner gave a forthright smile.
"Good idea." Chen Mu nodded, the scheme could be called powering through ingenuity, but he quickly inquired about his doubts, "How did you solve the problem of using two cards at the same time?"
"Well . . ." Spanner spread his hands with an embarrassed look, "I spent a lot of time researching this technique . . ."
"What are your terms!" Chen Mu just cut him off.
"Ha! Little Brother Yao is pretty quick!" Spanner was smiling, "Although I spent over a million on this fantasy card, its impact is pretty ordinary, I'm hoping maybe little brother Yao can help me make an energy cloak fantasy card, for which I'll naturally provide the materials. And if you agree, your little brother will immediately present you with everything I've learned."
"OK!" Chen Mu agreed without hesitation.
"Agreed, then!" Spanner was very happy, "So now let your little brother show Big Brother Yao this dual composition in some detail!"
Chen Mu was feeling pretty good when he got home. That dual composition of Spanner's had given him a huge inspiration. He'd been struggling to find a simplified version of the simple water world that was on his mind, and he had finally gotten a glimmer of light.
What Chen Mu wanted to make then was completely derived from the knowledge that he had digested that day from what he had gleaned from Spanner.
Chen Mu went back to Amay City on the weekend.
"An invitation?" Chen Mu asked, finding it strange.
The shopkeeper hurriedly nodded, "Yep, Madam Ning would like to thank you in person." Seeing that Chen Mu wasn't interested, he quickly added, "Madam Ning is a very good person, and genuinely from the Ning clan, although she's been alone for these few years."
The shopkeeper was reminding Chen Mu who Madam Ning was.
"Please give Madam Ning my thanks for her kindness." Chen Mu had thought about it, and was still declining, "Restoring cards is my job, with nothing admirable about it. And I have a lot to do recently, and don't have the time."
He really did have a lot to do lately.
Having solved the most difficult issues, he needed to go ahead and make the simplified version of the simple water world. Aside from that, he still owed Spanner an energy cloak fantasy card.
But in the shopkeeper's ears, what he was saying sounded inevitably arrogant. The shopkeeper sneered to himself, wondering how he should respond to Madam Ning. But he couldn't afford to offend the youth in front of him, since there would still be quite a few places where he would have to rely on Chen Mu. Anyhow, given the family backgrounds of the students at Eastern Wei Academy, there was always a high probability of them acting like big shots.
He brought back another ten three-star cards that time. Even though he had plenty of money on hand, he still didn't want to treat it lightly. There were too many places where he needed money, and if he were careless he would get nervous about his funds.
After spending a whole two weeks, Chen Mu finally completed his "Swordfish Training" version. He hadn't entirely adopted Spanner's dual composition, but instead put that into a card, which strictly speaking was using a card to replicate the dual composition.
Chen Mu called this the "dual card." Apart from its ability to enable the simultaneous use of more cards, it had no other function. It was also Chen Mu's first card which didn't use any standard compositions, so in a sense it was as though he had invented a new kind of card.
That didn't make him self-satisfied at all, since Spanner had invented the dual composition, and he had only compressed it onto a card. In any case, compared with the simple water world that was constructed from that mysterious card, the results from this dual card would just be considered so-so.
Adding the dual card and the power card, the "Swordfish Training" needed five cards altogether, which also meant that he needed to swap out for a five-slot apparatus.
He bought an ordinary five-slot apparatus, which cost nearly half a million, which made him wonder if he needed to be researching the structure of these apparatuses.
This most recent version of the "Swordfish Training" had cost him a whole million up until then. Burning through million after million, he had become numb to the numbers.
Having inserted the five cards, he activated the apparatus.
There was an entirely new simplified water world! One that Chen Mu had made by himself. Although this water world was basic and crude, once he'd entered it, Chen Mu was full of a sense of achievement.
Countless 'bubblefish' were swimming about in front of him, in great schools. But don't underestimate the cute bubblefish, since there wasn't any difference in their speed or agility from the triangular swordfish in the simple water world. The water pressure here was also identical to that of the simple water world.
But by training here, he didn't need to be worried about getting injured. Although you'd feel those round-headed bubblefish hitting your body, it wouldn't be painful, and it wouldn't leave any bruises.
If he were to practice his dodging and evading there, Chen Mu felt that he could certainly complete the swordfish challenge in the simple water world. He was very curious about what the reward would be for completing the swordfish challenge.
He'd added something else to his daily training.
Still . . . when was the demonic woman going to return? Chen Mu felt a little unsettled, since it had already been quite a few months since the demonic woman had disappeared, and he hadn't had the slightest bit of news.
Without her returning, he would just have to go on with this disguised identity, since he had no right to choose.
When he returned to campus, the news of his having made the "mud fish" had long since spread to his class. All his classmates were looking at him with worshipful admiration, like night and day from their simple fear of him before.
It was really very interesting. The news that Chen Mu had made the "mud fish" jet stream card had spread most broadly among the sponsorship class section, since those fancy pants were mostly enamored of card appliances and modified cars. So, they understood the value of the "mud fish." Chen Mu was still unknown to the overall campus.
"Mud fish?" What is that?
The students who had aspirations looked down on those richies who played with card appliances and shuttle cars, and naturally wouldn't pay any attention to that kind of news. As far as they were concerned if the sponsorship class were able to produce an ace card master, Eastern Wei Academy would already have become a great institution like the Star Academy.
Still, the admiring gazes of the students in his class section alerted Chen Mu that there were still wanted posters pasted all over, and if he wasn't careful he would be on the road to death. He secretly congratulated himself that the energy cloaking fantasy card that he'd made for Spanner hadn't completely copied the fantasy card from Madam Ning. While the one he made for Spanner was a little more powerful than the ordinary energy cloaking fantasy card, there wasn't anything too extraordinary about it.
People kept looking for him during that time, hoping to buy a "mud fish" card. That Fiery Mayfly of Phoenix's had already become the most celebrated shuttle car among the car mod circle at Eastern Wei Academy. Quite a few of them thought that it was the liveliest shuttle car at Eastern Wei Academy.
Chen Mu rebuffed all those requests. Although money was important, his life was clearly more important.


This is both a work of science fiction and an exploration of the meaning of life, love, literature and art. Brainpower is no longer the main ingredient for being human in this far distant future world.  Spirituality, physical balance, and diligence all come together as integrity for Chen Mu, the Card Apprentice.  The cards which Chen Mu masters in his own scrappy way, distill all the powers of the cosmos –  human and nonhuman –  into something that is not a book, not technology, and neither art nor magic, but is these and more.  Learn about these strange cards, which can embody everything you might imagine for the future of technology, but also a future beyond technology which promotes the best, and sometimes the worst, from mankind’s past.

Kabbalah was not aware that in certain games, there was a "Ten Consecutive Summons Guarantee the Minimum Success Rate" mechanism, meaning to say that if ten consecutive summons were made in one breath, one would manage to at least obtain a relatively rare card.
That was also what Sui Xiong did.
But, until the present, the Major Building summoning technique was still in the test phase, and no one clergyman had ever tried to carry out ten consecutive summons in one breath. So ever since the day this Ten Consecutive Summons Guarantee mechanism was designed and produced, this was the first time it had been triggered.
Speaking of which, this time around, the Church of the God of Knowledge was placed in a rather risky situation. The church had only prepared a total of fifteen sets of resources, and if this amount were any less, the church might not have even been able to hold on up to this point.
The thing was, this was only the first time that this mechanism had been triggered, and already, one of the only two fantasy-type Oracles had appeared. Kabbalah's luck was indeed quite powerful!
The fantasy-type Oracles were the latest type of Oracles Sui Xiong had just created, so currently, there were only two. As far as fighting was concerned, these two Oracles might not be more powerful than elite Oracles, but they did have special abilities.
According to Sui Xiong's plan, next up, he would design a system for the promotion or evolution of Oracles. After an Oracle had been summoned, he could sign a contract with this Oracle and allow it to continue living in the mortal world. The Oracles who chose to live among the humans would gradually become stronger as they gained more life experiences, and eventually, they would ascend the ranks and be promoted to higher-level Oracles.
Of course, this was designed for the mass-produced Oracles. As the number of elite Oracles was quite limited, a much greater consumption of magic would be required to allow them to remain in the mortal world. This was not a realistic move.
More importantly, Sui Xiong's idea was to promote the growth of mass-produced Oracles through the accumulation of experience and ultimately allow them to reach the elite level on their own. On one hand, he really did not have the time and energy to design that many Oracles. On the other hand, he had some expectations of "growth"—just like playing strategy games, if there was an upgrade system for soldiers, who wouldn't want to try fully upgrading a few?
These Oracles might have been designed by Sui Xiong himself, but how much potential did they really have? How high was the possibility of their growth? All of these things were aspects that even Sui Xiong could not say for sure. He desired answers for these questions, and thus, follow-up plans emerged.
However, that was a matter for the future. The important issue at hand was to look at the actual combat results of the fantasy-type Oracles. 　　
As Sui Xiong was pondering over these matters, the lion on the ground had already arrived before the mass-produced Oracles and wasted no time in interacting with them. The interaction between Oracles was naturally achieved via the exchange of thoughts, which was why Kabbalah had no way of knowing exactly what they were talking about. He could only see Lion nodding as she broke into a smile.
"The situation looks pretty good, so do allow me to lead your army!" she said with utmost confidence. "Even if we cannot win, at least we won't lose!"
"The opponent is one of the Nine Legendary Masters," Kabbalah emphasized.
"Which is why I have no chance of winning," Lion said with a smile. "However, if the number of comrades can be increased by just a little more, say 30 or so comrades of this level, then I am very sure I can fight them off."
Kabbalah almost choked upon hearing her request. Thirty or so comrades at this level? Thirty Main Force level, mass-produced Oracles? That was almost 300,000 gold coins!
You really come from heaven, so oblivious to the daily costs of living expenses in the mortal world! Do you have any inkling of what 300,000 gold coins would look like? I don't even know if there is there as much money within the unrestricted budget of the Church of the God of Knowledge for the entire year!
Kabbalah was born into the family of a merchantman. Since his grandfather's time, his family had been serving a viscount. As far as he knew, that viscount's annual income—including tax collections, sale of various products, and the management of his subordinates and merchants under him—would not exceed 10,000 gold coins even when everything he earned was added together.
What would 300,000 gold coins look like? Three-hundred thousand gold coins was an equivalent of 30 times the annual income of that viscount!
No doubt, that was generally a more average viscount with a relatively low income. Yet regardless of how average he was, he was also a big shot with an authoritative presence in a certain area. He had his manor and a vassal. He also had a baron and some knights under his command. Within a radius of 200-300 miles, he had the ultimate say in various matters. There was no need for him to provide any reason if he wanted to hang someone to death. He was simply that high and mighty.
Kabbalah was currently a mid-ranked priest. According to the system for social status, he was probably an equivalent of the lowest-ranked knight among all the feudatory aristocrats. This was his current status based on his identity as a clergyman, which was much higher than that of the average adventurer. Otherwise, he would be, at most, only an equivalent to a potential knight without any land. If he made it to the baron-collared level, he could most likely become a bishop of the local Church of the God of Knowledge, where he could enjoy jovial conversations with the other barons. However, if he were to go to a more regular viscount-collared level, then his social status would be slightly lower, but he would have to at least close to the rank of a high-level. In fact, most of the viscount-collared bishops were mid-peak close to high-level, or they had just stepped into the rank of high-level.
For example, concerning that viscount that Kabbalah was familiar with, on that viscount's territory, the biggest church would be the Church of the Goddess of Wealth. The bishop of this church was a high-level priest.　　
Just imagine, even a high-level priest was only equivalent to the level of a chief vassal under someone else's command, and yet, this Oracle here was shooting her mouth off without a second thought, requesting for that viscount to take out thirty years of hard-earned income to pay for one single battle…
Hey! Are you going to fight a war? I think you are only here to burn money!
So he shook his head right away and said, "Impossible! We simply do not have that many resources!"
But then he immediately added, "That... On the contrary, if we were to go for the weaker Oracles, we could summon a lot more…"
Lion froze for a moment and thought about it. She sighed with some regret.
"It's not a big deal whether we have quality help or not; it's the quantity that matters. One more person means one more set of hands," she said. "Well, do try your best to summon some more then. I have the ability to command, so I can help them improve their strength."
She paused for a moment then said, "The English Faculty will be the best, or at least, Oracles from the European Faculty, which is one notch lower than the former. If you are going to summon me one from the Japanese Faculty, I'm afraid I won't be able to command them…"
Kabbalah was in a slight daze; he was simply clueless over what an "English Faculty" or a "Japanese Faculty" meant.
At least he understood one part—the power level of this Oracle that he had summoned was, at the moment, still an uncertainty. But it seemed like she was good at commanding, so it was a good thing to build an army with more men.
Since that was the case, he immediately greeted the other church members who were feeling as clueless as he was and redistributed the remaining five sets of resources. Among the number of redistributed sets, there were about 100 sets meeting the minimum standard, while the rest fully met the criteria of all requirements. During this period, the clergymen came up with a conclusion based on their experiences. They came to realize that through adjusting the allocation of the four different resources, they could summon Oracles from different walks of life in a more purposeful manner. Although these experiences were not necessarily reliable and unexpected accidents were frequent, it was still better than bumping their way around aimlessly.
And so, numerous sets of resources were continuously piled onto the altar to be completely used up over and over again, and Oracles walked out of the light rays successively.
The one responsible for summoning the Oracles would naturally be Kabbalah, who had once again proven by practice that he was indeed a purebred Light Mask.
Sui Xiong watched this scene unfolding before him and could not help whispering under his breath, "This young fellow, he is so talented! If he had made his way all the way over to Earth, he would cause a lot of trouble for between groups of people! They might even pin him up and burn him to death!"


In the world, there were gods who obeyed the rules, whether good or evil. But there were also evil gods who defied the rules. 
When a traverser was confronted by the rules that he could never conform to, the resulting collision marks the beginning of the story of an evil god…
This is the story of a good man who transformed into a great jellyfish, then traversed his world to arrive at a world of swords and magic. His journey of searching and exploring eventually led to him remaking nature and changing the world. 

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