1 How To Start The Game Of A God

Robert was confused. The reason for his confusion was that there was a giant light bulb emitting light, yet lacking any visible power source, hovering in front of him within this empty landscape.

"Hello," said the light bulb "I understand that you may have some questions. I don't have a lot of time left, so I will explain what I can to you."

"What was this thing?" Robert thought, confused.

"I am what you would call a god." the light bulb answered. "I have brought you here as I have a bit of a dilemma. You see, within this plane of existence, a god is created by taking the energy of a dying universe or obtaining said energy from another god. I am one of the latter variety."

"Okay then," Robert replied "But... why do you look like a light bulb?" he inquired.

"..."

Robert got the feeling that the "god" was glaring at him despite having no visible eyes.

"I-I'm sorry, you do realize that I just gave you the formula for ascension to godhood, right?" the light bulb said in a confused voice after a few moments.

"Stop trying to dodge the question." Robert said in a serious voice, his eyes narrowing as he became more suspicious of "God", the magical floating light bulb.

"Look, I really think that there are more important things that we need to address here!" the light bulb said as it began to flicker erratically.

"Fine, fine," he said, his opinion of "the great and radiant light bulb" dropping drastically. "so what is it that you want from me?"

Robert heard "Baron von Radianton the third" sigh in relief before saying "I was sent here by the supreme creator-"

"Thomas Edison?" Robert interjected.

"No!" the light bulb screamed in frustration "That is it! Go away! The other human will choose your role!"

"What do you mean?" Robert asked, before he was pulled out of the empty realm.

...

[Congratulations! You have been selected as the villain in "The Game Of A God"]

"What fresh hell is this?" Robert wondered.

[Running Dark Conqueror system.exe]

[Booting up Dark conqueror system]

[Realm: Relictaria]

[Race: Unchosen]

[Class: No specialisation]

[Categorisation: Villain]

[System interface: Unchosen]

[Please choose a race and an interface]

This sort of reminded Robert of one of those online novels, where the protagonist had unbelievable plot armor and the plot holes were big enough to walk right through...

"Wait!" Robert thought "Am I the protagonist? Hmmm... probably not, after all it did say that I was the villain. So, "Big, round and shiny"'s coil overheated and he sent me here to play the villain in this story... Well, I suppose I have nothing else to do." Robert shrugged mentally.

[Please choose a race and an interface]

"What does that mean?" Robert said, confused.

[Select new fantasy race for your body e.g. Dark Elf, Dragon, Undead, Demon, etc.]

"Hmmm... Okay, I select undead." Robert said.

[Please select sub-species of undead e.g. Skeleton, Death Knight, Lich, Dullahan etc]

"Let's just go three again, I choose Lich."

[Race: Lich]

[To choose an interface just think of a mythological figure of evil alignment]

"Shit..." Robert tried to think of all the villainous Gods he knew before remembering an old book on Egyptian mythology he used to have. "I choose Apophis!" he exclaimed.

["Acknowledged."]

The voice changed from the soothing and monotone voice of the system to a serpentine voice that was so deep his ears could barely pick it up.

...

Robert opened his eyes, he was surrounded by the desert and off in the distance he saw a horde of large, crimson lizards coming towards him.

[They are called salamanders and they are fire aspected, apex tier creatures.]

"What does apex tier mean?" Robert asked Apophis.

[Power levels: all stages include the four inner stages of Early, Middle, Late and Peak.

Common - most herbivores and scavengers

Predator - creatures capable of causing general havoc and killing people e.g. splice beasts, bears, zombies

Apex - creatures capable of overwhelming regular guard and adventurer teams e.g komodo dragon, salamanders, tree guardians

Magical - creatures capable of destroying villages e.g. Roc, minor elementalists, minor demons

Arcane - creatures capable of destroying cities e.g. greater basilisk, death knights, cult emperors

Eldritch - creatures capable of destroying empires e.g. krakens, ancient dragons, major elementalists

Godly - creatures on par with gods e.g Reaper constructs, demon emperors, inter dimensional abominations

Primordial - creatures beyond gods e.g. abyssal heralds, devourer planes, conceptual horrors.]

"Oh, ok." Robert said "So how strong am I?" he asked, hoping for the luck of those overpowered protagonists.

[Oh my, what an unbelievable level of power. In all of the millennia I have lived through I have never before seen or heard of a player in the game of gods starting with power in the early step common tier. Completely unparalleled! Even the least powerful player I have ever heard of, who supposedly punched the god that summoned him, started with a level of power two full tiers above yours! What did you do to the one who summoned you to merit such treatment?]

"Well, that's disappointing." Robert thought, and then realizing that the basilisks were only a few hundred meters away, remembered the reason why so many of those overpowered protagonists were so overpowered in the first place, The system!

"Oh great and powerful system, I beg that you aid your loyal player in his time of need and bestow unrivaled power upon him." Robert said pleadingly.

[Hmmm... I could, but why should I?]

Robert almost fainted from rage. "Because if I die then you'll die too!" he said, furious.

[Wrong, if you die, then this infinitesimally small fragment of me will die. Anyway your body -even while suppressed- has at least the durability of a middle step, magical tier beast, if you can't think of a way to subdue five flame salamanders with that strength, then you are unworthy of utilizing me. I will await your results in this test.]

"Okay, how hard can it be to kill a couple salamanders?" Robert thought "Time to pass this test with the greatest of ease!"

...

Many hours later...

Far in a future that Robert wished had never come to be, he had needed a way to figure out the potential of those that were under him. Remembering back to this moment -his beginning in this new world- Robert decided upon one, one that he lovingly called : Salamander Therapy.

Whenever he met new companions, he would assume the form of a random lich and tell them the tale of what had happened to him that day, he would then gauge their reactions. Some people would say that since he was at the magical tier of durability these beasts couldn't hurt him, he would laugh and tell them that they were wrong, all whilst carrying a look in his eyes that told them not to push any further. Those that listened and didn't push any further, noticed that from then on, they were far more likely to gain the opportunity to join the new initiatives that Robert created, those that pressed on would disappear for a long time, when they came back they would be stronger than any on the same tier, yet they would act subserviently to even those on the same tier.

Others would say that he should have pushed through the pain and fought the salamanders to the death, whenever he heard that, his eyes would go bloodshot and his mouth would open in a smile so wide that his lips would split, covering his face in blood. Those people would then find themselves signed up for a large amount of "experimental research" and as long as they could "push through the pain" they would become the trustworthy captains of his soldiers.

And once in a blue moon, someone would stand up and say that he was inferior, that they could have done better. There was no greater insult. Whenever that happened he would laugh maniacally, seize them by the neck, and disappear for days with the newfound "victim". No one but him and them knew what happened to them afterwards. He took them to a small room and suppressed their strength to early commoner tier and their durability to the early magical tier. Finally, he would put them in the position he was in currently, the first salamander would engulf their head in its mouth, completely closing off the victim's sight.

Then the second and third salamander would each take one of the victim's hands in their mouths, stopping the victim from fighting back.

The fourth salamander would latch onto the crotch of the victim, mauling its prey and causing extreme agony to the victim.

The final salamander would use flame breath to periodically set the victim ablaze, all of this happening whilst the other four continuously ground with their teeth and charred with their flames at their assigned body parts.

After a few hours he would check the victim's mental status, and if they had been driven insane then he would send them to some of his more... cultish acquaintances. As for those still sane, he would recall what he had decided when he was in that situation "It's that god's fault that this is happening, I will beat his game and tear him from his sky!" and then he would issue a statement and a question "Compared to you, I am a god. Would you stand against even a god or will you worship me to make up for your previous...sins?"

Those that answered with worship became part of his faceless personal guards the "Black mirror imperium guard", his most trusted force.

Those who answered with hatred became his greatest allies, his spymasters, ministers, and head generals, these were the men and women who he trusted to fight for him, even against the gods themselves. Of course, he had to win them back over again first. Luckily, Robert still had some remnants of the bright past that he had once believed in so fully. So foolishly.

Luckily, this future would not come to be for a very long time, by human standards at least.

In the end, after hours of being torn apart, the copious amounts of undead blood he had lost poisoned the salamanders to death, and he was able to take his leave.

While wandering through the wastes, he was told by Apophis that he could create a full set of paladin armor that hid his undead aura and appearance, allowing him to blend into society as he wished. He had learned that for a non-noble to gain a second name they would need recognized deeds, he resolved to earn for himself a name that would make his enemies fall to their knees and butcher their entire families to appease him.

And with that he set off on his adventure into the unknown world, "Hey," he thought "how much worse can it get than moody light bulbs with god complex, haughty and unhelpful systems, and crotch mauling salamanders?"

...

An undisclosed amount of time later...

"Much, much worse..."