Chapter 1 - Genie?

"Okay, state your three wishes and be done with it!" said a young man in stylish Arabic attire as he lounged on the bed, gazing at the man with a bored expression.

The young man adorned himself with golden necklaces around his neck, golden rings on his fingers, and golden bracelets on both his wrists and feet, giving him a handsome and noble appearance.

"Fuck! There's no way you're real!" The middle-aged man sat on the floor and, like a frightened kitten, backed away until his back touched the wall. Pointing his finger at the young man, he stuttered.

His name was Alex Santos, a 33-year-old taxi driver... A day ago, he was just going about his regular and uneventful daily job like any other day, when suddenly, he noticed an old Arabian-style lamp on the back seat of his taxi.

At first, he thought it might be something a passenger had forgotten, so he didn't pay it much attention. Considering it as ordinary as he felt himself, he decided to take it home.

Little did he know that the next morning, when he woke up, he would be greeted by a man claiming to be "the genie."

"I'm real, okay? Just make a wish, and I'll prove it to you!" The young man was a bit annoyed and urged him to make a wish.

"Okay, fine, I wish to be immortal!" Alex didn't know if he was being crazy or not, but he somehow felt that the young man in front of him had a noble demeanor.

He also didn't seem like someone who would do something bad, so he let down his guard and made a wish... Anyway, it's not like he had much to lose.

"Are you crazy? Immortality? Even I am not immortal. How can I grant you something I don't even possess?" The young man's original nonchalant expression turned into anger upon hearing his wish for immortality.

"See, you're not real! You must be crazy! Get out of my apartment before I call the police!" Alex sneered upon hearing the young man's explanation. "Sure enough, he was a scammer... Why did I even believe him in the first place?"

Taking out his phone, he dialed an emergency hotline, but before he could press the call icon, it was suddenly grabbed by the young man in Arabic clothes, stunning him.

"Huh, is this a communication tool? Wow, did human technology reach this level?"  The young man exclaimed as he looked at the smartphone before him as if looking at something very novel.

At this time, Alex finally recovered from his shock, turning his head to look at the young man three meters away from him and remembering how he had snatched his smartphone... He exclaimed, "Did you just use telekinesis?"

"Teleke what? It's just a simple application of floating and object-controlling spells." The young man nonchalantly explained as if it were something trivial.

"Y-you, don't tell me you're really a genie?"

"Tsk, how many times did I say that I really was? You guy was more annoying than Aladin." The young man, or the genie, as he claimed, snorted.

"Damn.. are you the genie in the folklore 'Aladin and the Magic Lamp?'"

"Ehh, did they make a biography about us?" The genie's nonchalant eyes lit up with interest upon hearing that his story with his old friend had become folklore. In curiosity, he snapped his fingers, and soon his mouth curled into a smile as he nodded in satisfaction. "This movie and animation is very innovative. I remember back then we only had hunting games, stage plays, and gladiator battles as our entertainment. To think that it has evolved into this is quite innovative."

"... Did you just use some kind of heaven-defying omnisicent spell?"

"Kind of, but the range is limited to the planet, unlike those gods.."

"That.. did you just say gods?" Alex's eyes brightened upon hearing it, and he asked in interest.

"Yeah, they once roamed the earth.. People treated them like they were great or whatever, but honestly, they are not that good. Most of them are scumbags; the few good ones are also retarded, tsk." The young man's expression turned to disgust as he heard him ask about gods, as if they did something bad to him.

"Speaking of gods... Why can't I feel them?" At this moment, as if noticing something strange, the young man once again snaps his finger to cast a planetary-level omnisicent spell, and then soon, his expression becomes shocked. "Why did the magic in the air become very thin? Also, why are there only dozens of gods out there? Wait.. why are they so weak?"

"What are you talking about?" Seeing the genie suddenly acting shocked and using unfamiliar language, Alex asked hesitantly.

"Oh?" Hearing his voice, the genie calmed down and then answered him hesitantly. "Well.. I just discovered that the magic in the air has become very thin and the faith level of mortals has dropped to an alarming rate.."

"So, is that a big deal?" Alex didn't understand a thing about what he said.

"Yes and no.." The genie hesitated again before finally sighing. "Okay, I'll tell you the principle of how my ability works; listen carefully, as I'll only tell it to you once."

"Okay." Nodding his head, he gestures to the genie to continue.

"Okay, I usually don't tell this to my master, but today was an exception. My power is called manifestation; with it, I can manifest whatever my master wishes, but not every wish can be manifested. First of all, my ability can only manifest material things. Second, my ability can't manifest something that doesn't exist. Third.. my manifestation power relies on the magic in the air, if the magic is very few, the scale of my magic will be limited."

"I see, that's why!" Alex nodded as he suddenly understood why the genie didn't grant him 'immortality'; "I understand the first and second, but can you elaborate on the third?"

"..." The genie looked at him as if asking, 'are you serious? Didn't I explain it already?'

However, seeing that Alex was really serious, he finally let out a helpless sigh. "Okay, fine.. theoretically, with enough magic in the air, my ability can fill the entire planet with gold, but that would kill the planet in the process, so I never told my previous masters about that... Well, of course those gods will not allow me to do such a thing, but anyway, my point is, with the current volume of magic in the atmosphere, it was only enough to manifest a few hundred tons of gold."