Gamer of the Multiverse - Book One: Hope & Despair

"Thou art not a God. Thou art more than a God. Thou art a mortal, and that tis a thing no God could claimeth be. In that way, Thou art better than a God. For thou can understand what be needed, and art naught blinded by vanity. Thou should take great pride in such a thing before it is too late." A wandering merchant told me this long ago in a land I only remember but faintly. I now look back on his words with great nostalgia because back then, I saw it as an insult. Now, I see it as a reminder. A reminder of who I once was – Diary Entry 1019, Lines 4 through 8, page 501.

Darkness, for as far as the eye could see.

It was haunting just how much nothing felt like blistering frigidness. Was this what the afterlife was supposed to be? Nothing but a big empty dark room made of quartz and granite tile? If that was true, then that meant religion had lied to them. The "them" in question was a light blue featureless humanoid figure standing smack in the center of the strange room they had found themselves in.

It was small—about the same size as a standard gazebo, just far taller than a regular gazebo, but width-wise, it was about the same. Enclosed and claustrophobic would be the best words to describe the place that the figure had found themselves in. Pristine white walls with strange carvings that they did not recognize surrounded them like a cage, with marble granite tiles underneath them. Their astral feet touched the ground, and they noticed that it felt a bit wet. As if it had rained in here recently… somehow.

In front of them was a pair of tall, 15-foot doors. They were made out of dark brown wood, with intricate swirls and patterns carved into them, almost attempting to look like flowing winds overtop vast, barren valleys. The figure barely had been able to reach out to touch the door when they hesitated, not out of concern or fear, but out of confusion.

Who were they? Where were they? How had they gotten here in the first place?

There were scarce few things that the figure could remember. All they remembered was the searing hot pain of a blade being lodged into their throat, a kitchen knife if they had remembered correctly. They remembered the fear that had caked over them at that moment, the desperation, and, more importantly, the betrayal.

One moment, they had been gasping for breath, reaching out toward their attacker as a means of attempting some form of self-defence. They remembered that, for a split second, their attacker almost looked remorseful, but that had been all that they had been able to gather before dying. After that, they found themselves here, standing inches away from the door to this strange-looking temple.

A question burned through their mind. Assuming this place was The Afterlife, then where exactly were they? Were they in Heaven, or were they in Hell? 

At this point, there was no reason to deny it. They knew they had died. Otherwise, they wouldn't be here. They accepted the fact that they had died. That wasn't the problem here. The problem was everything else surrounding their death. The who, the what, the where, and the why. None of those questions would ever have answers, because those memories were no longer there. Almost as if someone had reached into their mind and pulled them out, leaving nothing but blank spaces. The only question they had for that was why?

Why remove their memories, but keep the most traumatic one, that being of their death? Was it some kind of sick form of torture? To know that they had died in one of the most brutal ways imaginable—suffocating on their blood? Slowly choking on the very thing that was meant to keep them alive, all the while staring eye to eye and face to face with the person responsible? To know that they had been powerless at that moment?

A gust of frozen air swept over the figure, knocking them out of their thoughts. As fast as the gust of wind came, it left, and in its place, they felt something—no, someone behind them. Someone powerful. Instinctively, be it out of fear or curiosity they did not know, they turned around, craning their neck upward to see who had appeared.

And what they saw left them awestruck.

Standing before them, eyes of a translucent blue staring down at their blank slate of a face, the source of the powerful presence stood with crossed arms and a nonplussed expression. They were tall, easily over seven feet, with long black hair that reached down past the center of their back and bangs that swept to the left. They had a peach colour to their skin, and they held themselves to a high standard.

They were thin but not sickly. Just thin enough so that they would be underestimated. They were dressed in a black elegant long-sleeve open-faced blazer adorned with a red flower pin on their left breast pocket. The blazer had a golden trim, as did the pants that they were wearing, complemented by a long purple flowing cape adorned in golden rose motifs. Just peeking out from underneath the unbuttoned blazer was a bright red shirt that stopped just at the midriff, teasing what appeared to be a well-built body.

"My, my. You've met quite the brutal end, Spirit," the masculine voice of the entity rumbled throughout the room, echoing in the back of the spirit's mind as they flinched. For a brief second, they felt the searing pain in their throat again, falling to their knees and howling in pain as the entity chuckled. "You have the sweetest of screams, Spirit. The agony, the pain, it is something everyone goes through. I'm glad to see that you've remembered it, if only partially."

The entity snapped his fingers, the pain disappearing instantly as the spirit slumped forward, breathing heavily as their hands touched the wet ground. They looked up at the entity, and if they had a face, they would've been scowling. "I can sense the anger coming off you, little spirit. There's no need to be so upset. It was just a little sensory illusion. I could've done far worse."

"Screw… you…" The spirit spat in between breaths, as the entity snorted, shaking his head in what the Spirit thought might have been disbelief before chuckling quietly to himself.

"That's no way to greet someone as great as I. But, I suppose first impressions mean everything. If nothing else, It was only a harmless prank," the entity said before doing a bow similar to how a showman would. "I am Loki Laufeyjarson, The God Of Mischief of the Nordic People. And I was born to a great purpose," Loki introduced before standing up to his full height and shrugging his shoulders. "Though what that great purpose is supposed to be, I haven't the foggiest."

Shoulders slumped, as the spirit sat in awe. They had just told a God to screw himself. That most likely—no, definitely didn't put them in his good books. Loki stared, tilting his head to the side ever-so-slightly enough to where it looked mocking. "No more witty quips, I see? Well, that wasn't the intention, but I suppose it works."

"You see," Loki began, squatting to their level with a mysterious gleam in his eyes. "I brought you here because you, my dearest spirit, are going to be something special. More special than even I eventually," Loki continued, before taking a step back, outstretching his right hand and pointing the palm of it in their direction. "But, that special thing I mentioned will be kept from you for now. Because that wouldn't be nearly as fun."

Just before the spirit had a chance to ask any questions, a ball of green energy manifested itself in front of Loki's palm. The spirit took a step back, fearing that this might have been some kind of attack and raised their arms to protect their face. The ball of green energy zipped through the air as fast as a lightning bolt and hit the spirit in the center of its torso.

Instead of being flung back as they had expected, they were still standing. Lowering their arms, confusion washed over them, and before they could question anything yet again, a screen manifested in front of them. The screen was holographic and appeared to be a faded green colour and more to the point, and it displayed a question with a multiple-choice answer.

"What Is the biological sex of your choosing? Note: Previous identities from your past life do not matter when factoring this question, as this is your new life, and therefore you may choose what you want to be to reflect your state of mind, personality, and comfortability."

The question was innocent enough. The answers weren't strange either. Male, Female, or Non-Binary were their options. They looked back to Loki, before looking back toward the holographic screen, confusion decorating their expressionless face as their forehead scrunched in a manner that dictated as such. "What… is this?"

"What does it look like? It's a character creation screen you humans have in those video games of yours," Loki replied, a small smirk taking up his visage. "Oh, and when you create your avatar, please don't make it the same appearance as that of your previous life. That wouldn't be any fun."

The spirit snorted at that, narrowing its nonexistent eyes. "Not that I remember what I used to look like. Now then, let's give this a shot." As soon as the spirit thought that, they began to create their appearance after selecting the "Female" option that had been presented to them. Throughout what felt like hours, the spirit constructed the body that they wished to have. By the time they were done, Loki had to admit it wasn't what they had expected it to be.

Loki had known a thing or two about the spirit that this new soul had been. He had expected something else entirely other than what he saw, but he supposed that it did make this even more interesting than what he had initially assumed.

Standing before him was a young lady, seemingly around 16 years old—which had been the age at which they had perished. Black and pink hair sat divided evenly down to her cheeks, with her bangs swept to the left. Emerald green eyes shone in the dark like that of the actual gems, along with a small, barely noticeable frown taking up their visage. Their cheeks were dusted with a pink hue due to the cold in the chamber, though that would be gone once they had left the chamber and entered a warmer environment.

Then came her body, which honestly was nothing special—he had seen far better before, and would most likely continue to in his eternal life. But, for human beauty standards, considering how sexualized they were and how gross it was, she was probably one of those who resided at the top and would be considered to have won the "genetic lottery" so to speak.

The teen's body was slender yet not so thin that she looked emaciated. Rather, it was more the typical high schooler appearance; just enough weight to where they looked average, but not so much that anyone would consider her unappealing—again, something he didn't understand about humans, and why weight mattered, but he digressed.

Her breasts were nothing special and nothing he hadn't seen before on a woman. He honestly didn't understand why humans got their rocks off to sacs of fat attached to another human's chest, but then again who was he to judge? If he were to describe them in measurement sizes—because humans were so fickle with measurements for some stupid reason that, yet again, he couldn't understand for the life of him—he'd guess somewhere around the range of 84.5 to 88.5 cm. He wasn't about to touch a minor's chest just to measure them. A God he may be, but he had morals of his own. Besides, his eyes could see and interpret all, so it really wasn't much of a guess, more than it was a fact. 

Her torso was shaped like that of an hourglass—and not those overly sexualized versions of what one would consider an "hourglass figure", but a true hourglass figure, one with a little more meat on her bones toward the lower and upper waist and thighs. The legs gradually thinned out past the knees, leaving just her feet. She also had a lack of hair anywhere on her body, meaning it was probably a personal preference. Of note, there was one thing that Loki did find a little strange, and that was the scar on her neck. Perhaps she placed it there as a means to remind herself of her death.

That was fair. He did strip her of her memories. So with her having that last and fatal memory as a reminder of who she used to be, it made sense for her to want to hang onto it. Even if that memory was a traumatic one, though who didn't like a little bit of trauma in their backstory?

For height, she was about five feet five inches tall—the average height a human woman could have. Why she had decided not to go for anything taller than that was beyond him, but then again, Loki wasn't allowed to intervene, even if she was being incredibly bland right about now. And with that, it was done. The teenager before him had created her appearance, and by all means, aside from the hair and the scar, it looked a little boring.

Among all of the warriors who had served under his banner in eras past, she was probably the least sexualized. But, considering her young age, he viewed that as a good thing. It meant that she had some sense of reason rather than going for the whole sex appeal route that most under his banner did. He didn't know what it was with him and attracting those types of people, but then again, he was never the one who selected them up until this cycle, so maybe that said something about The Almighty and not him.

"I must admit, I was expecting something a little more… I don't know. Fantastical. After all, given the opportunity to look whatever way you want, I would've expected something with a little more oomph. Still, I must say, even if you are a little young for my tastes, I would be envious of someone who managed to date you," Loki said as the teen narrowed her eyes.

"What is that supposed to mean?" The teen grumbled, earning a half-hearted chuckle from Loki without answering her question. He looked down at her, arms no longer crossed as he snapped his fingers. Another set of screens appeared before her, seven to be exact. Each screen detailed the names of what she recognized to be classes from video games that she had used to play when she was younger. When she was alive.

"Don't think about that. Not that there isn't anything to think about. However, why would Loki be showing me this? Then again, he did mention something about the video games humanity played, so maybe this is more in line with that?" she noted, frowning. The classes available to her were Barbarian, Warrior, Martial Artist, Wizard, Sorcerer, Priest, and Cultist. The last one was strange, considering she had never seen it before.

Even then, Priest was a rare sight. Usually, that kind of role was saved for Non-Playable Characters in the world of the game, and either acted as healing stations or saving stations. So for it to be added as a playable class for whatever this supposed "game" was supposed to be—because it was obvious now that this was indeed a game—bent the typical rules of a traditional game.

It would also explain the Cultist. For every religion, there was a cult, and so a Cultist class was probably the direct opposite of those who chose the Priest class. While she certainly had questions, she knew that Loki wasn't going to answer them, so instead of even bothering to try, she decided to read what was in front of her. 

Each class had their own description, and all of them were extremely detailed. She had expected as much because clearly, she was being asked to choose. The last thing she wanted to do was make an uninformed decision. So, starting from the left and working all the way to the right, her options were as follows:

Barbarian: Your typical physical attacker with weaponry. As a Barbarian you can use abilities to make yourself stronger and hit harder, giving your Attack Stat an exceptional boost, along with Physical Strength. ATK starts at 15 rather than 5, and Physical Strength starts at 20 rather than 15. Swords are best used with a Barbarian, as well as small shields. Unfortunately, your Magic Stats start at 0 rather than 5, and your Arcane Wisdom starts at 0 rather than 15, so using any kind of spell will be beyond you for a long time.

Warrior: Warriors are your "middle-of-the-road types", with even Stats across the board. As a result, there are no increases to certain stats or decreases. If you want to be bland, pick this. It is the safest option, but it is not a fun option. Most weapons are available to you from the get-go, though certain magically inclined weapons are barred from your use, the same as certain attacking weapons due to your status as a Warrior, meaning brutish weapons are "above you".

Martial Artist: Warriors who do not fight with weapons, Martial Artists train all of their lives to perfect their craft, which is hand-to-hand combat. Martial Artists sacrifice ranged attacks with weapons for a strictly hand-to-hand style of combat and or restrict themselves to short-ranged weaponry while mixing in hand-to-hand combat. Martial Artists are also allowed to use magic, though to a limited degree. Critical Chance, rather than starting at 0, start at 25%.

Wizard: The essential class if you wish to specialize in Elemental Magic. As a Wizard, you have access to elemental spells, but as a result, you are more squishy, and your HP is reduced from 100 to 50. To make up for that, your Magic Stats are far better than normal, going from 5 to both M. Atk and M. Def to 20 off the bat. The same goes for Arcane Wisdom, going from 15 to 45. Your physical Strength will start at 5 rather than 15 should you pick this option. Holy and Demonic Magic cannot be used if you are going with this class unless your sub-class says otherwise. Furthermore, you are limited to Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire magics, unless your subclass says otherwise.

Sorcerer: Similar to Wizards, they are an essential class if you wish to specialize in Magic. The difference between a Wizard and a Sorcerer is that a Sorcerer has access to more than just elemental spells. Not only that, but they do not have to sacrifice HP to specialize in them. Although their physical attributes are reduced, ATK, Defence, and Physical Strength being halved (2, 2, and 7) they make up for it by having the same bonus as Wizard, having all Magic Stats doubled, M. Atk, M. Def, and Arcane Wisdom (10, 10, 30) and not only that, but Demonic and Holy Magics are available off the get-go without needing to sacrifice Faith or Blasphemy, with the only major downside to it being that you can only pick one before the other is locked away forever.

Priest: The standard class for Holy Magics, as well as Holy Weaponry. As a Priest, you have access to a cavalcade of Holy Magics at your disposal right off the bat, most of which aren't offensive in nature more than they are supportive. Your Faith Stat is doubled as a Priest, starting at 30 rather than 15, as well as your Magic Defence stat, which now starts at 10 rather than 5. However, your Critical Chance stat will start in the negatives, starting at -50%, and Blasphemy not only starts at 0 but cannot be upgraded. Demonic Magics are barred from use, and will actively damage you if you attempt to use them. The same goes with Demonic Weaponry.

Cultist: The standard class for Demonic Magics, as well as Demonic Weaponry. As a cultist, you have access to a cavalcade of Demonic Magics at your disposal right off the bat, most of which aren't offensive in nature more than they are debilitating to your enemy. Your Blasphemy Stat is doubled as a Cultist, starting at 30 rather than 15, as well as your Defence Stat, which now starts at 10 rather than 5. However, your Stamina is halved, going from 150 to 75, and Faith not only starts at 0 but cannot be upgraded. Holy Magics are barred from use, and will actively damage you if you attempt to use them. The same goes with Holy Weaponry.

Each option made reference to things that she had a feeling were supposed to reference her supposed "Stats", which again made sense given the context. Just from a surface glance, it was clear that you were supposed to think in depth about your choice. But, she had already decided when she saw that it was an option.

"Pick your class. You'll be needing one for the foreseeable future. Oh, and this is permanent, you cannot change it once you've picked it," Loki said, emphasizing the word "permanent", which echoed in the small chamber they had found themselves in. However, for her, the choice had already been made when she saw the option, immediately picking sorcerer as the class screens went away in the blink of an eye. "Huh. Well, usually it takes a while for someone to pick their class. You sure were confident in your choice."

To that, the teen shrugged her shoulders with a nonplussed look on her face. "I know my stuff, and I always do a sorcerer build in any RPG game I've played. Tabletop or otherwise," she replied as she blinked, before realizing something. "Oh, yeah. Uh, I know you didn't ask but—"

"Your name is Jolyne Brooks. Yes, of course, I know. It's insulting for you to think that I don't know. I am a God, after all, mortal," Loki said as Jolyne flinched, her face going red with embarrassment. Loki smirked before snapping his fingers again as another set of screens took up Jolyne's line of sight. A list of more classes appeared, although they all had some sort of relation to the Sorcerer Class mixed with another in them.

The choices were… interesting, to say the least. They offered a wide variety of things, each with its own benefits and downsides. Well, mostly the first one. The others do not have much in terms of downsides or benefits. Those choices being:

Druid (Barbarian/Sorcerer): Druids are nature's first line of defence, and as such, they must be monstrously strong, and in tune with nature. Their physical strength and arcane knowledge are doubled (15 to 30), as are their Atk and M. Atk (5 to 10). On the flip side, their Blasmphey and Faith stat starts at 0, and their Mana starts halved (50 to 25), although they gain access to a Nature-based spell and Nature-based perk right off the bat.

Necromancers (Sorcerer/Cultist): Necromancers are some of the most morally bankrupt magic casters in the Multiverse, using the dead as their pawns and, in doing so, defiling the dead, which was properly laid to rest for their own, mostly nefarious, purposes. They show no regard for life but have a strange passion for death and its effects. They start with a basic necromantic spell, for the cost of having 25% less HP and Endurance (75 HP and 38 Endurance).

Warlock (Wizard/Sorcerer): Warlocks have access to dark magics as well as regular magics and elemental magics, and are extremely talented with them. Morality is out of the question when magic is involved, and they will do whatever is needed to test out a new spell or research magic. Of note, the only magic they are unwilling to use is Blood Magic.

Dreadknight (Warrior/Sorcerer): Cruel, evil, and disturbed individuals who have made an oath to Lucifer, and as such, they are essentially his debt collectors across the multiverse, retrieving souls from those who made deals with him. Those who have made an oath to Lucifer know the path that they will take is a long and blasphemous one, but take it regardless, as to them, God has done nothing for them. 

The first three classes, Druid, Necromancer, and Warlocks, she was all familiar with. She had even used them before in games like Baldurs Gate 1 and 2, and she had even done a Magic build in Dark Souls, even if it might have been a bad idea. But a Dreadknight? Just by the description of it, she was put off by it. Cruel? Evil? Disturbed individuals? Made an oath to Lucifer!? If that wasn't EVIL in all caps, then she didn't know what was.

And yet, despite that, there was an air of intrigue about it. It was new, it was strange, and more importantly, it was something that called out to her. She often did the evil route in games first, mostly because they were the funniest to her. Say what you will about how that painted her as a person, but it was the truth.

That, and reading further into the description given about The Dreadknights, the idea of essentially being a debt collector sounded both boring, yet also interesting. Especially when it mentioned The Multiverse, an idea she had been familiar with even as a concept. More to the point, if anyone was stupid enough to make a deal with The Devil, it must've meant that they were bad people.

So essentially, in a twisted sense, she was protecting the Multiverse. And that? That was both daunting and fun—daunting because it was The Multiverse and fun because that meant she would be able to travel through it!

Still, though, that right there, the idea of The Multiverse was a spectacle in and of itself. It was a common theory among astrologers and pseudo-conspiracy theorists, and to find out it was real not only blew her mind but opened up things far more than they ever had been before! The idea behind there being more than one version of the known universe was insane, and this just confirmed it. It was both relaxing knowing that there were possibly multiple versions of herself out there and also slightly disturbing.

All of that aside, she lingered on her choices. She could go with something safe, like a Warlock or even a Necromancer—she didn't want to be a Druid since that never really appealed to her. Or, she could pick the thing she had no familiarity with and no knowledge of. Aside from that, it was supposedly the "evil" option.

It was a hard choice—really, it was. At least she knew what a Necromancer was, and she was very familiar with Warlocks. But the idea of being something she had never so much as even heard whispers of…. She had to admit. It was tempting. 

"Uh… what's a Dreadknight?" As Jolyne asked that question, a devilish smirk took up Loki's visage. That immediately made her weary of asking the question, which was further compounded by the answer Loki provided her with.

"Well, why don't you find out? I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised," Loki said as Jolyne felt a lump in her throat. Her gut instinct was to go with something safe, like being a Necromancer or a Warlock—because again, she had no interest in being a Druid. But, she guessed that it was her curiosity speaking for her because ultimately despite everything telling her not to pick the mysterious option, she tapped on Dreadknight.

The moment she picked that option, the screens disappeared, only to be replaced by three more, each of them being even more confusing, and also intriguing than the last.

Unholy Punisher: These Dreadknights find themselves in a unique position amongst their ilk, using Holy Magic to perform their wickedness upon those who had tried to swindle The King Of Hell. By twisting and corrupting something pure and innocent into something devilish and violent, they unleash Holy Magic against those who would dare do something so obscene and find ways to turn what was meant to heal into a weapon of death and suffering. Unholy Punishers also find themselves having more Faith than others in their group of twisted warriors to make sure that their Holy Magic is at its strongest. As an Unholy Punisher, whenever you Pray, your Faith stat doesn't go up by 1 or 2 points depending on where you're praying but rather goes up by 2 to 4 points. You also get to pick between God's Hand (For Holy Magic) or The Book of Hell's Wisdom (For Dreadknight Magic) at the start and unlock the latter at Spell level 500.

Knight Of The Crucible: Another facet of Dreadknights that call upon the Ancient Dragons for their powers to bring forth misery onto those who would attempt to try and get out of their bargain with their Master, just as they were intended to. These unique kinds of Dreadknights find themselves breathing fire or transforming parts of their bodies into Draconic features to increase their damage while balancing it with regular forms of Magic so as to not befall The Dragons Curse and turn into a Dragon themselves. The form of Draconic Magic they wield is that of The Lands Between, where most magic has a negative downside to it, hence the possibility of losing oneself to becoming a Dragon, dying a death of personality and turning into a hideous beast. As a Knight Of The Crucible, you get to pick between Vow To Placidusax (For Ancient Dragon Magic) or The Book of Hell's Wisdom (For Dreadknight Magic) at the start and unlock the latter at Spell level 500.

Voidbringer: Voidbringers lurk in the shadows and are the assassins of the Dreadknight moniker. Voidbringers do not like overstaying their welcome, nor do they like prolonged fights. As far as they are concerned, the best way to get the job done is to do so quickly and effectively, with or without assistance. Voidbringers use special Void Magic to assist in making their kills quicker and more efficient, all for the low cost of lowered physical strength (15 to 7) and faith (15 to 5) in the beginning. On top of this, as a Voidbringer, you also get to pick between Shadowman's Binding Promise (For Void Magic) or The Book of Hell's Wisdom (For Dreadknight Magic) at the start and unlock the latter at Spell level 500.

Seeing as she was locked into being a Dreadknight now, she had no choice but to pick between the options before her—further proven by there not being a "back" button for her to try and redo her choice. In hindsight, she felt a little dumb, but then again what was there to be said? Not much, really. She made her choice, so she needed to lay with it. Upon looking over her three options for what she had to assume were different variants of being a Dreadknight, one stood out to her the most. That being "Voidbringer."

Sure, it lowered Physical Strength from 15 to 7 and Faith from 15 to 5, whatever that meant, but it gave her access to a type of magic she had only seen in some modded versions of Diablo and Elder Scrolls. Void Magic. She never had the best computer when she was still alive, so she always had to play the console version of the games that came out. But from what she watched on YouTube, Void Magic was often shown off to be the most powerful—mostly because it was never intended to be in the games, but she digressed.

That, and the other two options just seemed… boring. Was that the word? No, that wasn't it. While Unholy Punisher sounded cool, Holy Magic was something she had no inherent interest in. If she did, she probably would've picked Warlock and chosen that as her option of religious magics between Holy and Demonic.

Then there was the Knight Of The Crucible, which sounded powerful, up until the idea of having no choice but to hold yourself back so as to not lose oneself into becoming a Dragon came up. That was not appealing at all. If she was going to be a magic user, she was going to use magic and do so with carefree abandonment. Otherwise, what was the point?

Besides, she always wanted to play around with Void magic. And now, she was being given the option to do so. And so, after giving the other options a pass for both valid and personal reasons, she tapped on Voidbringer. It was then that she was given another pair of screens, a decision, this one having to do with the aforementioned magic tomes that belonged to The Voidbringer class.

[Which Tome Of Magic Do You Wish To Start With?]

[Book Of Hell's Wisdom: A Tome filled to the brim with magic tailored made for Dreadknights. Burn your enemies to a crisp with uncurable flames, decay the land with your very fingertips, fashion armies out of suits of armour emboldened to serve the cause by embuing them with Hellfire, and much more. Should you pick The Book Of Hell's Wisdom, you will not be disappointed.]

[Shadowman's Binding Promise: A Tome filled to the brim with the magic of The Void. Do you wish to bend the very darkness with your will alone? Do you wish to become one with the very shadows you walk across? Do you wish to manipulate the ethereal Void of Darkness and Space itself?! Then you should take this Tome Of Magic and use it. You will not be displeased with the power it gives you!]

[WARNING: BY PICKING A TOME, YOU WILL BE FORSAKING THE OTHER UNTIL YOU GET TO SPELL LEVEL 500, WHICH IS DONE BY USING SPELLS MULTIPLE TIMES!]

Unlike when she was picking the variant of Dreadknight she wanted to be, this time she did not even so much as give the other option a passing glance. She tapped on Shadowman's Binding Promise without even considering the Book Of Hell's Wisdom. After all, she would get it eventually.

And besides, she had specifically picked this class to use Void Magic and Gods Damnit if she wasn't going to stick to it. While the Book Of Hell's Wisdom did sound interesting, it wasn't as if she wasn't going to be able to get to spell level 500 to figure it out anyway….

Right?

"I see…. Well then, if you are happy with your choice, Missus Brooks, take a good look at what you have so far." As Loki said that, he once again snapped his fingers as the other screens disappeared, replacing them with what appeared to be a character sheet screen, which had been labelled as such.

[-Character Sheet-]

Name: Jolyne Brooks

Level: 1

Title: None

Sex: Female

Age: 16

Sexuality: Bisexual, with an opposite-sex lean (inferred from viewing the user's past life).

Race: Human (possibility of change over time)

Height: 5'4 (162cm)

Weight: 111 lbs (49 kg)

Hair colour: Black and pink (left side black, right side pink)

Hairstyle: Chin length with a fringe swept to the left.

Skin colour: Peach/White

Eye Colour: Emerald green with slit iris.

Bust size: 34DD (86.5cm)

Class: Sorcerer

Subclass: Dreadknight (Voidbringer)

Magic Tome(s): Shadowman's Blessing (Void Magic)

Health Points: 100 [F+]

Mana: 50 [F]

Stamina: 150 [E-]

Endurance: 50 [F]

Attack: 2 [F-]

Defence: 2 [F-]

Magic Attack: 5 [F-]

Magic Defence: 5 [F-]

Physical Strength: 7 [F-]

Arcane Wisdom: 30 [F-]

Faith: 5 [F-]

Blasphemy: 15 [F-]

Critical Chance: 0

Critical Damage: 50%

Spell Slots:

1 – Empty

Perk Slots:

1 – Empty

Trait Slots:

1 – Empty

Jolyne ignored the top half of her "character sheet" and saw her stats. Upon seeing them, she felt insulted, but then again, she should've expected the small numbers attributed to her power. Considering she was just starting, it made sense for her to be weak. To start off strong would defeat the whole point of this being structured like a video game. However, if there was one thing that didn't make sense to her, it would have to be the grades next to the numbers.

Out of all of the games she had played, never had she seen a game that had grades next to the stat numbers. If there was one, it either hadn't come out when she had died, i.e. in the year 2011, or she never played it or watched anything regarding it.

"Still, it's a little disappointing…" Jolyne pouted as the screens disappeared. When they did, two more screens took their place, both being labelled "Perk" and "Trait".

[Perk]

Demonic Pact: You have made a pact with Lucifer. As such, you take 75% less damage from fire-based magic, weapons, or abilities, and you are immune to all forms of burning. However, you will take 50% more damage from holy magic, weapons, and abilities. All holy-aligned individuals are aware of your pact upon seeing you, and those who are holy-aligned view you with distrust upon first meeting.

[Trait]

Blood Drinker: You drink blood! Huzzah! Drinking blood allows you to heal up to 50% of your HP, which can be important. As a result of this trait, your teeth are extra sharp, allowing you to pierce the skin of anyone regardless of their stats, so long as it is through biting. Upon biting someone, it will leave them with the Blood Loss status effect, and it will sap away a small amount of their HP (5%), and stun them for upwards of 5 seconds. If an enemy does not have blood, then it will be pointless. Be warned, drinking too much blood will slowly start to turn you into a Vampire. If you drink more than 5 pints of blood in a week, you will no longer be considered human, and your race will change into that of a fully-fledged Vampire. Your stats will change given the race swap, and this trait will be replaced with "True Vampire"! Furthermore, you cannot ignore your hunger for blood, as a meter will appear underneath your Stamina meter, indicating how much time you have left until you MUST consume more blood.

If she were to be completely honest with herself, both the perk and the trait that she just got were pretty overpowered, one moreso than the other. Namely, Demonic Pact. It made her essentially immune to fire-based attacks and prevented her from being hurt when she was put on fire. However, she assumed it would still and that she simply didn't take damage from being on fire. Not that she wanted to find out, mind you.

Then came the trait, which was, in her opinion, the lesser of the two.

Blood Drinker, at least to her, seemed to be a little stupid. If she wasn't a vampire, then why did she need to drink blood every now and again? That was a vampire thing to do, not a human thing to do. Not to mention what did it have to do with her supposed pact with Lucifer? Was it thrown in there as a "thanks" for picking the Dreadknight subclass? If that was the case, that was even stupider! Not to mention, it was practically useless.

Sure, it did damage via percentage, which, most of the time, depending on the game it was in, was extremely powerful. But here it really wasn't, as the damage it dealt was only a measly 5%. She guessed that the stun would be helpful, and whatever Blood Loss was supposed to do would be too. And if that had been all, then maybe it would only be just "okay", but then came the final part. 

The caveat, in her humble opinion, was completely and utterly stupid. The whole "if you drink too much blood, you become a vampire" bit was actually annoying, and all it did was add an unnecessary risk factor to the whole thing! Essentially, she had to toe the line between her humanity and becoming a God-forsaken beast of the night.

"Of course, nothing can be too simple, can it? I knew there was going to be some kind of curveball. There's no way I get all of this power without there being some kind of stupid "haha! Got you!" bit. I should've known better, especially with things tied to the literal devil.

The screens disappeared, and in the upper lefthand corner of her vision she saw what appeared to be four meters, all stacked atop one another, each coloured differently. There was a red meter, which was labelled "HitPoints". A blue meter which was labelled "Mana". A green meter which was labelled "Stamina". Last but not least, there was a white meter which was labelled "Thirst," which was currently full, something that had only been there thanks to her stupid trait.

"And that should be everything. Oh, wait, hold on!" Before she could ask what it was that Loki was referring to, he snapped his fingers and as soon as he did, she suddenly felt warmer. Upon looking down at herself and seeing a black hoodie and a pair of grey sweats, it was only then that she realized she had been naked the entire time and, as a result, had been accidentally flashing a God. Her whole face went red with embarrassment, with her barely being able to keep a straight face as Loki laughed to himself.

"Shut up! It's not funny!" Jolyne barked, though that didn't seem to stop Loki from laughing. As a matter of fact, her reaction seemingly only got him to laugh harder. It got to the point where he had to wipe a tear from his left eye, which only made Jolyne more embarrassed and equally upset—not that there was anything she could realistically do about it. After a moment, he calmed himself, sighing as he did so.

"Oh, no, it was very funny. Though I guess in part it was my fault for not putting something on you. I picked your outfit from a previous memory of yours, and seeing as you wore it quite frequently, I figured it would bring you some form of comfort," Loki noted as Jolyne looked down at her new set of clothes. They were, in fact, familiar to her. She couldn't remember why, only that they were familiar to her because of what Loki had said.

"Though considering he's the God of Mischief, it could just be a prank of his. Not that I don't believe him, but still…" Jolyne mused. Loki was the God of Mischief. His whole thing was causing chaos and doing mischievous things. Like the time he had fucked a horse. That was something that she distinctly remembered about him. It was weird, but then again, he was a God, so to her, what was weird could've been expected of him.

"Well, now that everything is done and dusted, it's time for your new life to begin~!" Loki said, his tone carrying a hint of what she could only describe as excitement, and also some form of perverse gratification. "My last toy broke recently, so getting a new one so quickly after the last keeps things from getting boring!"

"What—"

"Now, the world you'll be taken to is one that you've probably never heard of nor seen before, but that's usually half the fun of these things. Seeing as you're what we like to call a "System User", you lot usually have a goal when you travel to a new world, and yours is to save this world from itself. I'm sure it won't be so bad, right?" Loki said all the while a mysterious green smoke began to curl around Jolyne's feet.

Jolyne panicked. Was he not listening to her? What the hell did he mean his "last toy broke recently"?! As a matter of fact, now that she thought about it, and the more she thought about what her situation was, the more this seemed to be like those Isekai Light Novels that she read, like Sword Art Online, though with a far less dystopian premise.

And if this was anywhere near close to that, then the panic she was feeling was more than justified. The last thing she wanted to do was die again! Dying sucked! She had no guarantee of survival, and that terrified her! "H-Hey, what do you—"

"Oh, and while you're there, be sure to spread some chaos, okay?" As soon as Loki said that, he snapped his fingers, and Jolyne Brooks began to turn to white dust. The last thing that Loki saw on her face was sheer panic and terror, not that he cared all too much. The large wooden doors opened, the creaking noise reverberating through the Chamber Of Second Chances, as the dust she was turned into was sent flying out the door at blindingly fast speeds alongside the green smoke that would actually take her to the world that she was being sent to.

A small, mischievous smile took up his visage. There was a reason why he had specifically chosen that soul. She had the most potential out of the bunch that had been selected for The Watchers to use. He was lucky he had been the one to notice her first because otherwise things probably wouldn't have been near as fun.

Given what he knew about her, her mannerisms, and the way she conducted herself in her last life, Jolyne Brooks, as she went by now, would be, without a shadow of a doubt, the strongest of the new generation of Multiversal System Users. That much he knew. Of course, that was assuming she played her cards right and didn't get herself killed in her first world. That would have been a complete disappointment.

The world he was sending her to had already been affected by three other normal, non-Multiversal System Users, aka the riffraff, so it already had a magical tint to it. And while he could've sent her to a generic fantasy world like The New World, Central Axis World, Britannica, Remnant, or hell, if he was really cruel, The Lands Between. But, seeing as he wasn't a sadist like Zeus was or a gluttony for strength like Shiva, he didn't care for throwing his ward at a brick wall and watching her squirm.

No. Loki had a goal in mind. And it all had to do with what he knew to be there. After all, that thing was there, and the last thing that he wanted was for it to sink its non-existent fangs into another world and corrupt it. It already started the process in the aforementioned Lands Between, as well as a few other places that were now barred from sending System Users too due to corruption. So, if she could weed it out, then it would make things better.

Loki might have liked Chaos, but what that thing represented was more than just Chaos. It represented death, destruction, and an all-around bad time for anything not already corrupted by it. If that thing got its way, then The Fallen One would get another world of souls to add to its army, and that would be a very, very bad thing. 

"Well, if she's able to weed it out or not, I don't really care. All I care about is the entertainment of the whole thing. That is more important to me than anything else at the moment," Loki thought as he stepped out of The Chamber Of Second Chances. He was the last of the Watchers to resurrect their wards, and according to Multiversal Time, even though it had only been about four hours for Jolyne to make her character, in reality, it had already been 400 years, give or take where one was in the Universe.

Jolyne was being sent to one of the closest parts in the Multiverse, and a freshly made version of that universe, having only existed for the last 30 years, i.e. 30 minutes ago for him. As far as the mortals there were concerned, though, it had been thousands, and only recently, i.e. 20 years ago, System Users started to make their mark there, changing it irreversibly in certain aspects while it remained normal in others.

"Welp, I should probably get to my viewing quarters. The last thing I want is to miss something important," Loki thought as a beam of golden white light surrounded him. One moment, he was a few feet outside of the Chamber Of Second Chances. The next, he was standing in front of his Television and behind the seat of his couch and promptly took a seat.

The TV was styled after a 40-inch flatscreen TV, mounted on a starry night sky-esque wall. The chair he was sitting in was a leatherbound recliner with a built-in drink holder, which had an infinitely refilling wine glass that changed wines every time it was emptied. His chair was out in the open and in a random corner of Heaven, separated from everything else. His "punishment" for "accidentally" destroying a monument of The First Human. Not that he cared all too much. It wasn't his problem that said First Human was now a monster who resided solely within that seal.

Turning on the TV with a snap of his fingers, the screen kicked to life. Grabbing his wine glass, he reclined into his chair, took a sip of his drink, and began his new form of entertainment for the next 50 Billion Years, or, to translate for those who didn't understand Multiversal Time, 50 mortal years.