1 Chapter One

My name is Felix Awiergan and I am normal. My life has been uneventful as of yet, but I still harbour hope. Hope that I have a destiny for something of great importance and I haven't been selected as a random villager.

It was my 21st birthday when things began to heat up. I am an only child and having lost my parents at age 14, I was taken in by my grandfather. Despite being distraught, I remember hoping their death had gotten the ball rolling and I'd have to prepare myself for a life of vengeance.

Fate is cruel.

They died, as my grandfather put it, as man and wife. I later discovered it was a sex thing gone wrong. Anyway, a few days after my birthday my grandfather died. Losing him was hard as I was now truly alone in the world with no idea what direction my life was meant to go. He wasn't very wealthy but I inherited a cottage he owned out in the woods. Curious, I decided to take a trip down there.

So packing a small bag, I left my apartment and rode a bus to my newly owned cottage. It was evening by the time I arrived. I unlocked the door and stepped in. It was small and dusty, looking like it hadn't been used in years. Having nothing better to do, I began cleaning. As I was sweeping under the small wooden bed, I found a loose floorboard. Without hesitation, I pried it open and discovered a small black box. In it was a locket. The locket was a dull gold and looked incredibly old. I thought maybe I could sell it and earn a killing. For no particular reason I flipped it open and what happened next was undoubtedly amazing. Inside the locket was nothing but light. Light like I'd never seen before. It lit the small cottage and spread through me. As quickly as it appeared the light vanished, plunging the room into darkness. I poked and prodded the locket but nothing happened until a screen appeared before my eyes and scared the life out of me.

[New host selected]

I stared at the glowing golden words before me as tears of happiness welled up in my eyes. Mother, Father, your son has evolved from villager A to a protagonist.

[Congratulations. You have found the Locket of Fate. The Locket came into existence after the birth of the universe and is indestructible. As per the rules you are allowed 3 wishes. You cannot wish for more wishes. After you have made your 3 wishes the Locket of Fate will leave your possession]

Wiping my tears I fell deep into thought. The possibilities were endless. Should I wish for world peace? Immortality? Superpowers? My breathing grew ragged as I thought about what to do. My eyes lit up as I decided on my first wish.

"I wish for an RPG-like system."

[Wish is being generated...'RPG system' being compiled...]

Before me, the golden words flashed by. It seemed to be searching and cross-referencing every RPG in existence.

[Your wish has been granted]

I almost passed out from excitement. My heart was throbbing rapidly as I spoke the sacred word. "Status". A blue box appeared before me and I could take it no longer. I ripped off my shirt and ran into the woods screaming at the top of my lungs. "YEEESSS! YES YES YES YES YES YES! HELL YES!" 10 minutes later I returned to my cottage drenched in sweat and a huge grin on my face. Washing up and putting my shirt back on, I sat down on the bed. I had now calmed down enough to analyse my new system. There was a simple chart depicting my status. There was my name, level, race, class, title, health and stats. My stats were relatively low with the highest reaching 12 and the lowest 5. As I was browsing, another box suddenly appeared slightly different from the golden words.

{Welcome to The System!}

Seemed like the locket had even made some kind of AI along with the system as a feminine voice sounded in my ears.

{Here is a basic introduction to the system. The core of the system is points. For Player to level up missions must be completed and points will be rewarded. To make purchases from the system store points will be required. Points are also used to increase stats. 1 point used in stats is equivalent to 1000 used in the store. Some will missions reward player with titles and objects from the system store. Inventory size depends on level.}

It was an easy to understand system, so without hesitation, I scoured the store. It was split into several categories; some selling edible body improving substances, equipment and finally techniques. The prices attached to these objects were staggering with the prices ranging from the 10s to the billions of points. I had 10 gift points and my first mission was to spend it. I had no idea where to invest first, my stats or the store. I was so occupied with the system I almost forgot the locket. A flash of genius hit me and I stared at the locket, not daring to believe it. With a shaky voice, I made my second wish.

"I wish for infinite points".

[Wish is being generated...]

[Your wish has been granted]

My heart felt like it was in my throat as I once more brought up my status. It was exactly the same except that the number of points it had previously shown had now changed to ∞. For a few seconds, I stared at that symbol before fully comprehending the implications of what I'd just done. My shirt came off once more and I ran out into the night like a wolf, free from its cage. Complete with the howling. 5 minutes later I returned and washed up. I gently folded my shirt and left it on the nightstand before returning to the bed.

I brought up my status and admired the elegance of the infinity symbol. No longer hesitating, I selected the arrow beside strength. Why strength you ask? No reason. It's got nothing to do with my inferiority complex. As the numbers on strength rose from 5, I could feel my body changing. It was a euphoric feeling. The fat on my body seemed to decrease and the curves of my muscles began to show. As the numbers rose passed 100 my body was actually growing before my eyes. My body looked like an athletes and I could feel the undeserved strength flowing through me. I pounded that arrow like no tomorrow. A few minutes later, I had now reached over 900 points in strength. My body had surpassed a bodybuilder's and I now looked more like a mini Incredible Hulk. I probably looked horrifying but with the power coursing through my body, I couldn't give a rats ass about how I looked. Greed continued to build up as the points slowly reached 1000. Once it reached 1000 another blue box appeared.

{Congratulations! Player has reached the peak of human strength. The Legendary title: "Strongest Man" has been acquired!}

I stopped pressing the arrow to read the box. Despite having a strength of 1000, I still felt somewhat dissatisfied. I once more pressed the arrow beside the strength stat.

{Warning! If Player attempts to increase stats passed human limits each stat point will cost 1 billion Player points. Continue? Y/N.}

As a humble man with ∞ points, I selected Y.

Suddenly, the stats started acting strangely.

{1000...1001...#%?@...????}

{Player has surpassed the limits of human strength. Player has enough points to break the system limits. The Legendary title: "Strongest Man" has now become the Legendary Divine title: "God of Strength"!}

I was too busy staring at my body to even read the blue box. My huge body with bulging muscles and snake-like veins...changed. The muscles deflated and began shrinking. I returned to the heights of a regular, albeit slightly tall, human. My hulk-like body that screamed strength was replaced by one that looked as if it was carved from marble. Despite the loss in size, I didn't feel like I'd lost anything, but instead, gained immensely. A new mysterious energy seemed to be right in front of me and yet slightly out of reach.

{To activate the benefits of a title Player must enter a stasis. Activate? Y/N}

The system answered my question and I wanted to instantly activate the title. However, the lure of raising my other stats to this level was too great so I selected N. It was already dawn as I decided to raise all my stats.

An hour later, I had acquired the Legendary Divine titles of all my stats. It was a long process but fascinating to watch, as I reached the peak of human limits and surpassed them. My brain was operating beyond 100% and I no longer had a need for any sleep or sustenance. It was the greatest feeling ever. It felt like the heavy veil over my eyes had been lifted. My body, which had broken the human limits of strength, agility, intelligence etc, was marvellous. I stood before a full body mirror and admired myself. I was the most physically perfect version of myself. The muscles made my body look like it had been carved with the full attention of a god. My face had become devilishly handsome with perfect symmetry. My previously dry and corse hair was now a sleek thick black which fell to my shoulders. Most surprising was my eyes. Once a dark brown, was now a deep enchanting gold.

I turned my attention once more to my status. All my stats now displayed '????'. I looked at them with pride. I had never been so satisfied in my life. If I didn't have full control over my emotions I probably would've been out running at Mach 2. My stats had now been beyond maxed out so I focused next on the system store. Looking at the categories, I first selected the body improving substances. They were separated into two sets. The first set of drugs were stat raising. They all took the form of small red apples and ranged from increasing stats by 1 to 100. This was of no use to me. The next set was also in the form of apples but of different colours. This set was body evolving. Each fruit was tied to an attribute and would give the user a body made for that particular attribute. There was fire, water, wind, earth, lightning, wood, metal, light and darkness. A body made from an attribute allows for the highest level of affinity related to that attribute. Each fruit from this set cost 1 million points and only a single attribute fruit could be consumed. I already had a perfect body so its affinity didn't really matter to me. I stared at my options and selected the fire fruit. As I was about to press buy, I noticed that I could select more than one fruit per purchase. This realisation was due to my insurmountable intelligence. I selected all the evolutionary fruits before I pressed buy.

{Player has made a purchase of more than 1 product. Due to Player's first purchase being a multiple purchases and having the necessary intelligence, you have gained the innate ability: (Merge). This allows for all multiple purchases made by Player to take the best parts of the product and merge it into a singular product successfully removing all impurities. Merge (Fruit of Evolution x9)? Y/N}

I unhesitatingly selected Y. The box lit up as a fruit appeared in my palm. It had the strangest colour. It appeared like every colour in the spectrum plus extra. I hadn't activated my titles yet so my eyes couldn't fully perceive the universe in its entirety. I lifted the small apple shaped fruit and swallowed it. It was tasteless, and as soon as I swallowed, it dissolved and spread throughout my body like a wave. The wave of foreign energy latched onto every cell in my body and evolved it. It felt like I was being broken down and rebuilt. The process was relatively quick and painless. Or maybe I just prevented my body from feeling pain. Either way, I could feel the high affinity to all the attributes.

{Congratulations! Player has eaten the (All-Attribute Fruit of Evolution)! Player has now acquired the (Aether Body)! This body allows player to have access to the highest level of all skills related to every attribute.}

Having completely benefited from everything this category had to offer, I moved on to the next category, equipment. This category only had a single set. There was an array of armour that all had boosting effects. Some increased health while others stat points. There were even some that granted passive abilities. There were many clothes and armour that came in sets. With my innate ability merge, I selected every item on the immense list.

{Player has made a multiple purchase. Ability: (Merge) is taking affect...custom outfit is being generated...unique set complete! Congratulations! Player has created a unique set: (Untitled)! All individual passive abilities have been merged and optimised! Due to creating a custom set surpassing the system limits Legendary Divine title: "Creator" has been acquired! Unique set: (Untitled) has been moved to inventory.}

I opened my inventory with anticipation. The set was composed of a beautiful black armour with intricate gold inscriptions. It looked more like an outfit with metal plates in certain places than armour. The set was made from merging multiple materials some being fantasy metals only found in games. The helmet was more like a crown and the gauntlet gloves looked compact with a black and red colour. The boots were also black and red. It was brought together by a regal red cloak that fell from the shoulders. The set was finally complete with a sword. Unable to resist, I extracted the sword. A sword in a crimson and gold sheath appeared in my hands. I was mesmerised as I drew my weapon. The blade was an endless black colour which seemed to devour the light. It was inlaid with the same gold runes as the rest of the armour. The handle had a black and red leather-like material, with the guard being pure gold. The set as a whole seemed to have reached a synergy between beauty and ferocity. Satisfied I decided to give my set a name. The Immortal Emperor set seemed as good as any.

{Set: (Untitled) has been renamed and is now: (The Immortal Emperor) set!}

I admired my personal outfit and put off the urge to instantly equip it. I wanted to finish devouring the store and couldn't afford to be distracted. Returning my sword to the inventory, I moved onto the final category, techniques. Before I could however, a new screen popped up.

{Supreme achievement! Player has created his own unique set and will therefore be rewarded with mastery over one of the 3 Primal Laws: Space, Time and Void. Reward being generated...Player has mastered the Primal Law of Time!}

I looked at the notification with slight shock. These 3 Primal Laws seemed to be the very framework of the universe. I felt a scene before my eyes. It felt as if I could look back and forth at any point in time. The scenes moved rapidly so I shut my eyes. This was all happening a bit too fast. I decided to deal with it after I had completed my shopping in the next category.

This category was split into two sets: martial arts and magic. I instantly selected magic. It was everyone's dream to be able to use magic and now that opportunity stood before me. Magic was split into several groups, one for each attribute. I pressed the fire set and scoured the spells. It ranged from cheap basic tier spells like a fireball to advanced tier spells like the meteor storm. Without a second thought, I selected every spell from the fire set and moved onto the next. My (Aether Body) granted full access to all attributes and their respective spells and with infinite points, I could afford to splurge a little. After 10 minutes I'd selected all the spells from every attribute set so I finally pressed buy.

{Player has made a multiple purchase. Innate ability: (Merge) is taking affect...custom magic is being generated...unique magic complete! Player has created magic: (Untitled)!}

I brought up my list of spells and was greatly surprised to see only one spell there! The spell was called (Big Bang) and was the only spell of my unique magic! I frowned in confusion. I could still feel a connection to all the attributes. I got up and walked outside. I needed to confirm something.

It was raining and was about 1 in the afternoon. The sky was covered in black clouds as heavy rain fell. I raised my palm to the sky and simply thought, 'Fireball'. A big ball wreathed in red flames appeared on my palm before firing into the sky. It left a streak of faint smoke as it evaporated every drop of rain in its path. After reaching a distance of 100 meters away from my palm, I completed the spell and willed my creation to explode. Explode it did. A bright light appeared in place of the ball. Every cloud in its vicinity was incinerated. The light slowly faded and the clear blue sky revealed itself. A few seconds later the shockwave manifested. The ground vibrated as buildings and trees began to shake. It had the power of a minor earthquake but I was satisfied after calculating the distance of impact and the power it would have against an opponent of closer proximity. My test had left me satisfied. It seems despite having only a single spell from my custom magic, I still had full access to all the spells I'd purchased. With a mild grin I returned to the cottage to complete my shopping. Seemed like my magic combined all the spells of every attribute into a single spell. Despite only having one spell, I still wanted to give my personal magic a name. Since it was only possible because of the Aether Body, I decided to call it Aether magic.

{Magic: (Untitled) has been renamed and is now (Aether) magic!}

With a cheerful nod I was about to turn my attention towards the martial arts category, when a notification appeared.

{Supreme achievement! Player has created his own unique magic and will therefore be rewarded with mastery over one of the 3 Primal Laws! Reward being generated...Player has now mastered The Primal Law of Space!}

I suddenly felt a complete comprehension about the intricacies of space. Seems like I managed to acquire another of the 3 Primal Laws. As I was about to turn to the martial art category something dawned on me. I returned to my status screen and as I suspected, beneath the red health bar there was another blue bar labeled mana. Seems like spells used a new energy source. I decided to return to the martial arts techniques and look over my status screen after I had stripped the store naked. In the martial arts set there was a long list of fighting techniques and movement techniques a few I'd heard of, others...not so much. There was every martial art known to man such as; kung fu, karate and boxing. There were also some with strange names like 'Desolate Wolf Art or 'Fist of the Celestial Dragon'.I even saw one called 'Club Smash Head'. Without blinking I selected all the martial arts techniques and pressed buy.

{Player has made multiple purchases. Innate ability: Merge is taking affect...custom martial art is being generated...unique martial art complete! Player has created martial art (Untitled)!}

Excited, I looked over the fruits of my labour. It was perfection. Not only did my martial art grant access to 5 active techniques, it gave me instant muscle memory on every fighting style without any imperfections or useless movements, compressing it into the perfect art of fighting. The active skills were split into 3 attack techniques, 2 defence and 1 movement. Each technique used a form of energy called 'Qi'. I turned to my status screen and as expected, there was a new gold bar labeled qi. I looked back over my martial art. The movement technique granted true teleportation. I could appear anywhere within my line of sight. With my enhanced vision the range was vast. Needless to say I spent the next few minutes disappearing and reappearing all over the room. The 2 defence techniques both had different applications. One enhanced the body making it almost indestructible as long as the user had enough qi. The other was for defending whilst attacking. An invisible domain would surround me, giving me instant knowledge to all threats within it. If infused with qi, any area within the domain could be made solid and would manifest a shield to block the enemy attacks. However the qi usage was immense. A single shield would cost 50 units of qi. The attack techniques were simple. A punch that would destroy mountains. A kick that could split the sea. And a palm attack which would eviscerate the enemies internal organs. Each used 100 units of qi. I thought briefly before settling on a name.

{Martial art (Untitled) has been renamed and is now (The Heavenly Sovereign Art)!}

Having fully benefited from the store I turned my attention back to my status screen. I was in a dilemma. My health was 1 billion, my mana 1000 and my qi 1000. The only reason my health was so high was due to my godly body. I was sure it too would break the system after I activated my titles. However the problem was my mana and qi. They would rise along with my level and my current level was 1. Having 1000 mana and qi was already amazing. To raise it I had to level up. Unsure of what to do I pressed the level.

{Missions being generated...complete! Player must select and complete a mission to gain the experience needed to level up. Missions must be completed within the given timeframe. Missions can be completed instantly if Player has the required amount of points.}

A long list of missions appeared before me. Some were simple like, cut down a tree. Others much more difficult like, build an empire. I didn't bother going through the missions individually and instantly completed all of them using points.

{All system missions have been completed! Player has acquired 999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999.. experience! Player has enough experience to reach level 2! Player has enough experience to reach level 3! Player...}

I sat, humming and watching for several minutes as my level continued to rise. With it, my mana and qi.

{...Player has enough experience to reach level 1000! Congratulations Player has reached the highest level available! Legendary Divine title: "Paragon" acquired!}

I gleefully looked at my mana and qi, both of which had reached 1 billion. Hopefully, they too would break the system after I activated my titles. No longer putting it off, I decided it was time to activate them. I'd broken my stats and raided the store. Now it was time for a nap which would give me power beyond anything I could imagine. I used the movement technique of my martial art which also allowed for instant teleportation to anywhere I'd been before. The qi usage was laughable. I instantly appeared in my 1 bedroom apartment. I changed into a pair of loose fitting pyjamas and got into bed before placing the Locket on the bedside table and laying down. After getting comfortable, I opened my status screen and selected titles.

{To activate the benefits of a title Player must enter stasis. Activate? Y/N}

Unhesitatingly I selected Y.

{Warning! Activating multiple titles simultaneously will increase Players time in stasis. Continue? Y/N}

I once more selected Y.

{Activating titles...calculating time in stasis...completed! Player will be in stasis for 128 years and 276 days. Stasis initiated.}

I didn't even have time to register my shock before I slipped into blissful unconsciousness.