Realisation

"Where the f*ck am I?" He mumbled.

'Well for starters, I can tell that I'm a lot weaker than before.'

He held out his hands. They were filled with shallow cuts, but that was not what he noticed.

"Wait..." He said under his breath.

He slowly looked into the small stream that was nearby. It was hard to make out, but it was glaringly obvious when he realized it.

"I'm younger? But how?" He exclaimed.

When he looked into the water, he realized that he was a lot younger. Roughly 14 years of age.

He knew he was not on earth. The very small amount of information that he went over in his head, and the fact that he was no longer in the cave made it obvious. But with it being his younger self, a lot of things did not add up.

'I was not turned back in age and brought here because this body was stuck with kidnappers. Meaning I came across them at an earlier time. And I can't remember anything before this. What has this body been doing this entire time? If I was kidnapped, I had to have had some life right? But why do I not remember anything?'

'There could be a few possibilities. One, this is not real, or at least, this could be a simulated world. Either in my own head or created by another. But what would be the point?'

'Let's try again. Maybe the body was created into existence, and the kidnappers just happened upon my body. But, I already ran before I got my memories, so that can't be it.'

'One more time. Perhaps this body had lived on its own. Created so that I could later take over. But, I hope they were just automated, and not an actual person.'

'Unless, I lived a life here, and then my memories of it were wiped.'

Out of the possibilities that he had quickly come up with, he hoped it was the third. He didn't like the idea of his memories being wiped. There could have been another answer, but he needed to quickly get things done.

"I guess I should go over with what's in my head." He finally concluded too.

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Humans and other living beings do not need God's, magic and souls, like in your previous world. However, the majority of the universe has them. Your old world is one of the worlds that are unknown. There are very few races and beings that can have magic and souls without any outside help. The strongest ones are given the title, "God." There are very few of them considering the number of living creatures in the universe. However, since the universe is constantly expanding, they are abundant.

A being that can become a God is given a system, and a specific ability they can have that is related to their true desires. For example, a God that has Fire manipulation. Fire manipulation is the base for every ability they can create. They are only limited by their imagination and, "mana."

If they can make the ability make more sense, the amount of mana needed will lessen. So a newly created, "fireball," spell will cost less than a newly created, "flame heal," spell. But the ability has to be related to the manipulation. So a God with Fire manipulation cannot create a "waterball." But might be able to create a workaround.

A being that reaches the rank of God is given another special ability that changes the way worlds can work. The ability to give souls, and magic.

If the person prays and worships a God, the God can bestow them a soul and magical abilities related to the God's very own.

Each God gives their followers a sheet that allows them to allocate their strengths. You would be more familiar with the term, "system." Each God's system will be stylized differently but will have the same functions. A one-point boost in each strength and an extra two to let the user decide.

The abilities that a user is granted are given as rewards. They also cannot be altered in any way by the person. They can only be given an increase in strength by the user using more, mana.

Souls are an important, and complex creation, that even God's need for survival. They have many uses. They can reincarnate the user if the God has the ability to do so. They are also the main reason why users can increase in rank.

If a world contains magic on its own, it will unknowingly bestow creatures without a properly developed consciousness a soul, and magic. The abilities they gain depend on their personality, or race. They do not have systems, but will over time absorb what is called, "essence." If they do not have much essence, they will only physically get stronger but will gain no abilities at the time. The abilities they receive will loosely be based on their desires, but they cannot create their own.

They will still not gain full consciousness but will increase in instinct the more they grow. However, there are some that will gain consciousness and will be given a system, but will no longer gain essence over time. They will also be affected by the limitation that will be mentioned later. Also, if an animal that has consciousness has offspring, it will also have a developed brain and consciousness. The world will also unknowingly give them a system and soul.

Essence is what can increase the rank of a user and animal. Essence will be stored in the soul and increases the strength of the user. If another being kills another being with a soul containing essence, the one that killed them will absorb the essence the being once had.

However, God's will not gift people souls, and magic for no reason. After a user kills a being with essence, the God will also gain a portion of the essence, increasing the rank of their soul. The ratio distributed between the two is up to the God. This information is unknown to most users. If a God favors a single user and wants them to be their apostle, they can change the ratio. This also applies to animals that have developed a consciousness. But the extra essence will be let out into the world, for another animal to absorb.

A God also has the ability to revoke a user's system they have given if so chosen.

God's will also rope in followers using real, or false promises. Every God will promise an afterlife to their follower, but creating dimensions that give souls form is only available to a few God's that have a dimensional-related manipulation, are ones that have an incredibly large amount of mana.

Now, this is where you come in. I have given you your own soul, with no strings attached. However, since you are a human, you cannot naturally be given your own manipulation and system. However, I have given you a failsafe circle that will only work on you, and you alone. So you will not be able to give it to another. No God knows of these failsafes I have created.

If you draw the circle on your body in your own blood, it will bestow you your own system and manipulation, without you being a specific race or being. I also cannot revoke this from you.

If you do not want to, you can do nothing and live an easy life. However, if you become a God, and the strongest there is, I will meet you, and tell you the reason why I have done this for you.

Always value your life.

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After reviewing all of the information, he just stood there. Frozen.

"This is insane..." He muttered.

'Why was I chosen? Can I trust the words they have told me? And who even are they? They said no God knows of the failsafe, so are they not a God?'

This information just broke all common sense that Markus used to believe.

But, the last line in the message made him remember something important.

"Sh*t!" He yelled.

He had died on Earth. The small about of people he cared about think that he is fully dead.

"Oh no..." He muttered.

He could imagine the reactions of his parents and siblings. Their distraught faces could not get it out of his head.

And Liam, he was there when it happened. So it was very likely he was injured, or killed in the flash flood. Markus was to blame for bringing him there.

'Maybe, I can make it up to them.'

If he became strong enough, he could go back. And if Liam died, he might be able to bring him back.

He was grasping at straws though. A soul is needed to reincarnate a person, and it was unlikely that his parents and siblings would live long enough for him to get strong enough. It was nearly impossible for him to ever do this. But it helped him get past the feelings. He stayed like this for a while.

But there was another thing that helped him move on.

The circle design that lay in his head.

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*Hey, bone here. Sorry for the past three chapters being just info dumps, but it's necessary for things to make sense. Enjoy.*