《Divine Inheritance》 The Gods’ Wager - Prologue In the Throne Room of the major Gods, there were 8 balls of light, each seemingly guarded by a pair of Grecian columns, which seemed to stretch into the the white nothingness of the surroundings and never end. The 8 balls of light represented the presence of the major Gods and Gideon, the current Pantheon Head. The 7 gods besides Gideon of the current major Gods were as follows: Synthia, God of Water, whose light was a serene blue. Jarvos, God of Fire, whose light constantly shifted between red and yellow. Lucipher, God of Darkness, whose light was a dark purple, that almost appeared to be black. Korpack, God of Storms, whose light was a dark blue that occasionally flashed with bursts of white. Kli¡¯Nadie, God of Nature, whose light was a soft brown, like the coat of a deer. Bardone, God of War, whose light was a bloody red, that occasionally shifted to the bright grey of steel. And at the far end of the circle, Archimedes, God of Math, whose color was a solid black grid on white background. Although the Gods were powerful, an ancient agreement had kept them from acting in the 7 Worlds until 10,000 years had passed. So far 9,980 years had passed. Gideon sighed. It had been far too long since anything interesting on any world. As Pantheon Head he usually had more duties than simply watching mortals flail about and occasionally granting them a minor blessing. ¡°Those accursed accords! If only they hadn¡¯t been necessary to prevent Him from ascending¡±. ¡°Aye¡± said Synthia Goddess of Water ¡°but we all know without them we would all be reduced to dust¡±. ¡°No need to speak the obvious, idiot¡± Jarvos, the God of Fire, chimed in, ¡°of course we would all be dead! He was far more powerful than any thing had a right to be! If only¡­¡± ¡°Shut up Jarvos!¡± Gideon said, deciding it would be better to stop Jarvos before he started full on ranting, ¡°I know we are all bored but please don¡¯t start this now, the Accords have nearly ended and we can use our divine right to once more reign over the people again¡±. ¡°That reminds me¡± interjected Lucipher, God of Darkness ¡°I have an idea that should make things much more fun¡±. ¡°That¡¯s never a good sign¡± said Korpack, God of Weather. ¡°Now hold on just a second¡± Lucipher said, ¡°I think you all might enjoy this one, I think we should begin a game as soon as the Worlds are once again open to our influence¡±.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°A game¡±? Gideon said, frowning ¡°What kind of game? Is this another of your tricks¡±? ¡°No, no, not at all, I¡¯m far more interested in some lasting entertainment currently, you lot have become too predictable as of late¡±. Lucipher said with a grin, ¡°The game will begin like so, we¡¯ll each chose a champion from each of the 7 Worlds, 1 year after reintroducing the class system, we¡¯ll take the top 14 candidates (yes this means a non-champion could win) from each world to the Mystic Arena and train them further, after another 6 months each champion will choose a 7 person team between them. The God with the most champions who are in the winning group will become the Pantheon Head, and the losers will abdicate to the 7 champions. If there is a tie, the Gods involved in the tie will nominate one of their candidates outside the seven to duel and decide the true victor¡±. ¡°Huh¡± Gideon grunted in surprise, ¡°I¡¯m surprised to find that I¡¯m not entirely disgusted by your idea. I do think it needs a few alterations but I daresay I am fond of this plan. We shall discuss this fully and add on more specifics but this will certainly be entertaining at the very least¡±. After much deliberation the Gods finally agreed to the plan, with a few changes of course. 10,000 years after the Accords had been signed, or on May 21, 2022 by the fifth world''s (Earth''s) calendar, the game began. The System Appears - Chapter One It was a dark and stormy night. At least that¡¯s how Jasper felt the weather should¡¯ve looked. A clear, sunny day did not fit the current situation. ¡°So, are you going to give us your lunch money or what?!¡± said the most muscular of the three bullies, pinning Jasper to the wall of the old brick school building. Jasper just sighed. Why did people always pick on him? Sure, he was the perpetual ¡°new kid¡± having been to 10 different public schools in the last 7 years. But it¡¯s not like he looked like an easy target, he was 6 feet tall and 170 pounds, and certainly not chubby at that, he worked out regularly, and was quite proud of his burgeoning six-pack. ¡°Hey, LISTEN¡­ to¡­ ME!¡± The muscular one drew his arm back to punch him in the face. Jasper simply took advantage of the release in pressure to punch the bully in the nose. The bully, stunned from the punch, released Jasper and tripped on a rock, falling on his back. The other two bullies stood nearby, but one was quite obviously toasted, and the other was not what one could call athletic, with some chubby boyish features that are typical of the comic relief in any good bully group. The muscular one stood back up quickly. ¡°Do you know who my dad is? You¡¯re going down!¡± ¡°Seriously?¡± Jasper said as he dodged a poorly aimed punch, ¡°Not only did you just deliver the most stereotypical line ever, you decided to give it to the freaking new kid! I literally moved in 2 days ago! How on Earth would I know who your dad is?¡± ¡°He¡¯s got a point¡± said the toasted one, ¡°you should¡¯ve told him your dad was the principal first¡± ¡°Aw man, the principal?¡± said Jasper sighing, ¡°I¡¯m going to get suspended, aren¡¯t I?¡± ¡°Yep, unless you¡­ just¡­ freAKING STAND STILL!¡± the muscular one started yelling, having been unleashing several attempted attacks at Jasper. Fortunately, the jab Jasper sent at the beginning of the fight landed on the bully¡¯s nose and left him with tears in his eyes, distorting his vision and allowing Jasper to easily dodge the inexperienced punches. It was at this point that something changed. A blue screen appeared in front of Jasper¡¯s vision, distracting him just enough to allow the bully to finally land a weak glancing blow that clipped Jasper¡¯s triceps. ¡°Haha gotcha! Wait, what the heck?¡± the bully looked at the air in front of him, ¡°Are you seeing this too?¡± ¡°Yep¡± replied the chubby one. ¡°Yeah, me too¡± said Jasper with a slightly confused look. ¡°I guess that rules out this being a hallucination,¡± he said. At that point they all looked at the extremely high bully who was throwing up on the ground. ¡°Ugh,¡± groaned the bully, who slowly stood up after a couple seconds, ¡°I feel frickin¡¯ SOBER. Why on Earth do I feel SOBER, ugh I hate it.¡± Jasper disregarded the 3 bullies and focused on the screen in front of him
Hello Citizens of world 5: EARTH, and welcome back to the Pantheon! We know we¡¯ve been gone for a while, and we know that you have forgotten about almost all of us, save a few minor Gods that somehow ended up in your myths. For the last 10,000 divine years* the Accords have been in effect, and because of that, your world and its six sister worlds have been devoid of mana until a divine decade ago when the mana began to trickle back. This allowed the Gods to slightly alter some of your world¡¯s media to prepare you for this day. The stories of the Fae, Elves, Vampires, Werecreatures, Humans, Half-men, and Monsters are the species or species groups are part of each of the 7 worlds, with the Fae races occupying World 1: Sidthe and the Monster races occupying World 7: Farzeen. Some of you may get to meet some of these other races eventually, but now onto more important business. The Accords have broken, allowing the mana to grow to the point where it will eventually reach the first mana threshold and start summoning mana beasts of the common variety. These beasts are dangerous, and at present, none of you will be able to defeat one in combat. Thus we, the Gods, have granted all of the sapient races of the 7 worlds the ability to participate in a tutorial to learn more about the Ascension System, as well as gaining the chance to gain an Uncommon, or even a Rare class, if you impress us enough with your potential and/or skill. Your tutorial will begin in 6 divine minutes*, so make sure to grab a weapon and some food, as the tutorial will last a full divine hour*. To dismiss this notification and any following notification, simply think Dismiss. If you want to review this notification or any following notification, simply think Review.
*Each divine unit is equal to 48 units of Earth¡¯s unit of time. So, a divine second is 48 seconds for you mortals
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°As Jasper read the screen, he slowly started thinking and nodding to himself OK so if I¡¯m going to be in there for that long, I¡¯m going need a bit more than just a couple of snacks, I need to head home now to make sure I can grab my pocketknife and some food. As Jasper was planning what food to grab, another notification appeared in his vision
Divine seconds left until tutorial 5 -> 4
Aww crap, Jasper thought I gotta go! My house is a minute run and I still need to grab all that stuff! Jasper quickly made it to his house, sparing no thought to the 3 bullies who were still reading the notification as if they didn¡¯t understand the words written on it. Jasper darted up the stairs to get to his room, quickly grabbing his pocketknife on his nightstand before heading back down to the pantry to grab some food. He grabbed a few granola bars, some dried mangoes, and cookies. As he moved from the pantry to raid the fridge, he got yet another notification
Divine seconds left until tutorial 2 -> 48 seconds
Huh, that¡¯s nice, I don¡¯t have to do all the mental gymnastics to figure out how long I have left before I get summoned, Jasper thought idly as he grabbed a couple apples and a can of root beer from the fridge. As Jasper finally grabbed all that he figured he would need, he sat down, placing the food from the pantry beside him on the leather couch, and balancing an apple on each knee. As the countdown continued, he started trying to review all the things he had heard about RPG¡¯s. He had heard an acquaintance from the move before last mention something about classes and how they made you stronger than a normal person. He remembered something about killing creatures made you stronger, and he had played games with different rarity weapons being rare or uncommon, so he assumed that showing off combat skills would get him a better class so all he ha *poof* Suddenly, Jasper was gone, only the two apples resting on his knee, plus the root beer and knife in his hands disappeared with him. The Tutorial Starts - Chapter 2 A little over 4 divine hours before Earth¡¯s Tutorial In the Throne Room of the Gods everything was still, and then with a rush, the air began to feel almost electrified, the atmosphere turning turbulent, and then with a loud crack, 8 bolts of lightning striking down directly on each of the balls of light. As soon as the blinding light vanished, the 8 balls of light were replaced by 8 figures, all stood at about 7 feet tall save one. ¡°Ahhhh¡± said Gideon, now in the form of a middle eastern man in his prime, stretching his muscular body, ¡°it feels good to be back off power saver mode¡±. Gideon sat in his chair, which was as white as fine china, and adjusted his glittering golden/red robe, which wouldn¡¯t have looked out of place on an ancient Chinese emperor. ¡°Especially with the upcoming entertainment¡± grinned Lucipher, now looking like a white man in his late 40¡¯s, except he also had blood red eyes and jutting canines, ¡°I¡¯ve already got a champion in mind! Those elves have certainly become much less tree hugger like then they used too, eh Nadia?¡± ¡°Oh **** off Lucipher, you **** ******** ****** ***********************¡± Kli¡¯Nadia said, clad in a dress made of leaves, Kli¡¯Nadia now appeared as a young woman with tan skin and pointed ears. ¡°I¡¯m sure you planted some seeds that led to this¡±. Lucipher just shrugged and said ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that at least half of your suggestions are anatomically impossible for a normal vampire¡±. ¡°Yeah well you¡¯re a ****** ****** God so ***** ***** figure it out!¡± ¡°HEY!¡± injected Bardone, who now had the appearance of a normal human bodybuilder, save for the dense gray hair covering every inch of his visible body, and his oddly wolf-like eyes. ¡°I WANT TO SEE SOME FIGHTING! SO PUT YOUR GENITALIA AWAY UNTIL AFTER THE COMPETITION STARTS!¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± Gideon laughed, ¡°let¡¯s get this party started! You know the drill, the system¡¯ll show the most qualified candidates of each category on each of the 10 screens, until a champion is claimed in which case it¡¯ll be removed from the screens. So, let¡¯s get started shall we? System, allow Accord rollback in World 1: Sidthe.¡± The 10 screens then popped into existence in front of the Gods, and each God adjusted their throne in the semicircle so they could the screen clearly. The top most screen had the words *Top Overall Candidate* written under it golden letters. The two screens located under the first had the words *Second Best Overall Candidate* and *Third Best Overall Candidate* in silver and bronze lettering respectively. The line of three screens below the 2 read *Highest Affinities*, *Highest Affinity*, and *Highest Skill Acquisition* in royal purple lettering. The final 4 screens in the line were in white lettering and read *Best Warrior Candidate*, *Best Mage Candidate*, *Best Support Candidate* , and *Best Rogue Candidate* After a tense couple minutes some of the screens turned on, having finally gathered enough data to make a preliminary assessment. ¡°WHAT!!!!!!!¡± Archimedes screamed, he was the only God not at or near 7 feet, in fact he was only 4 feet tall. He wore a black, gold-lined suit, and had red hair and a fairly well trimmed beard. ¡°WHY THE HECK IS A HALF-BLOOD ON THOSE SCREENS! THOSE OUT-BRED FOOLS ARE WEAKER THAN ANY OTHER FAE BY FAR!!!!¡±This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ____________ Greg sat up dazedly. The last thing he remembered was working hard at his lab station trying to invent a glue that police could use to capture subjects¡­ but then he remembered that there were those blue messages! Almost immediately after he remembered the blue messages, another one popped up in front of him
Analyzing¡­ 3 highest affinities recorded¡­ base statistics recorded¡­ Common Class assigned¡­ Analysis Complete, welcome GREG. Presenting Status Sheet¡­
Just as Greg finished reading the first notification and dismissed it, yet another appeared in front of him
Status Sheet
Name and Level Greg, Level 1
Title Scholar (unlocked by attending a higher institution) +2 to intelligence (Common)
Class(es) Science Major (Common) (Automatically assigned by the Ascension System)
Race Half-Gorgon, Half-Leprechaun
Racial Bonuses +25% Strength +10% Willpower and Intelligence
Primary Affinity Fire: 95%
Secondary Affinity Earth: 86%
Tertiary Affinity Knowledge: 74%
Strength 8 (10.1254475 rounded down + 2 racial bonus)
Dexterity 18 (17.537 rounded up)
Agility 6 (6.46284 rounded down)
Intelligence 17 (14.8996754 rounded up + 1 racial bonus + 2 title bonus)
Willpower 9 (7.9889 rounded up + 1 racial bonus)
Endurance 12 (12)
Skills Developed N/A
Greg stared at the screen for a few seconds ¡°By Omar¡¯s hairy balls, what the heck is this so-called status screen?¡±
Help: Status Screen
The Status Screen shows certain portions of your abilities represented in a way that allows one to see their progress. It shows your Classes and Titles. In order to unlock higher rarity class you must unlock a title with the same rarity. Rarity levels are common, uncommon, rare, epic, legendary, unique, and divine. Higher rarity classes give more bonuses according to your level. Titles give static bonuses. The status screen also shows your race and the bonuses that apply to you because of them. Furthermore, it shows your affinities. You can have at most 3 affinities. Your stats are also shown. The average for each stat among all races is 10.25001. Your skills are representative of the abilities you¡¯ve developed and can increase your abilities beyond mortal limits.
¡°Huh¡±, Greg thought out loud, ¡°now that¡¯s a lot to take in.¡± A few seconds later another message appeared, this one a little less specific than the others. It simply said
Prove your worth. The Gods are watching
The Criminal - Chapter 3
Name and Level Landon Sin¡¯Albin, Level 1
Class(es) Criminal (Common)
Race Elf
Racial Bonuses +30% Intelligence +20% Dexterity
Primary Affinity Dark: 90%
Primary Affinity* Light: 90%
Tertiary Affinity Blood: 83%
Strength 13
Dexterity 20 (+3 racial bonus)
Agility 15
Intelligence 12 (+3 racial bonus)
Willpower 12
Endurance 10
Skills Developed N/A
¡°Prove my worth, huh? That might be tricky as is¡± Sin¡¯Albin laughed. Sin¡¯Albin was a pale elf, with pointed ears, and short, spiked white hair. He stood at 5 ft 11 and was far more muscular than the average elf. He wore a striped bight green and orange onesie, and had chains on each of his limbs. ¡°Well I think I might need some help before I can ¡®prove my worth¡¯¡± Sin¡¯Albin said with laughter in his eyes. No sooner than he said this, yet another screen appeared in front of him
The first portion of this tutorial will be a section where you can ask questions. Your Pantheon had elected to introduce RPG¡¯s into each of your worlds to prepare you for this day, however some of you may be confused, whether because you didn¡¯t play any of these games, or because you are unsure of the specifics of the Ascension System. Therefore, you may ask three questions of the System before beginning the second portion of the tutorial
¡°Huh ok, how do I get these chains off me?¡± Sin¡¯Albin said
Don¡¯t worry about it
¡°WHAT?!?!¡± Sin¡¯Albin yelled into the nothingness ¡°That¡¯s a load of bullfrog¡± After about a minute of incessant screaming, he finally calmed down enough to ask his second question ¡°Ok fine, can you at least tell me how Classes and Levels work? I still don¡¯t fully understand¡±
Classes will give you bonuses based upon your level, accomplishing feats will grant titles, which unlock classes. You may only have one class of each rarity active and may only change each rarity once every divine year, or once every 48 of your years (this only applies to classes beside your common class, your common class is subject to change only by your actions). Each rarity gives benefits at different levels. Your common class will give a benefit after every level, your uncommon class (should you obtain one) will give you a benefit after unlocking, and a benefit for every two levels, however your uncommon benefits will be at least twice as good as your common class benefits. A rare class will give a benefit about 5 times that of your common class every 4 levels. Levels may be obtained one of two ways, either through killing, or through crafting. You must have a common class related to crafting in order to level that way however. Each level will give a single status point per class to increase whichever stat you desire by an equivalent number. All benefits are retroactive, if you gain an uncommon class at level 5, you will gain the two benefits you missed from levels 3 and 5 as well as 5 status points.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
¡°Huh¡­ well I guess I¡¯ll be stuck with the criminal class for a while then.¡± Sin¡¯Albin thought aloud Having calmed down from his fit over the first question, Sin¡¯Albin thought deeply about his third question before finally deciding on what to ask ¡°What are affinities and why do they matter?¡±
Affinities are important because they determine your class benefits, as well as determining how strong your skills are. A Criminal with a blood affinity might gain a skill that makes someone who gets stabbed by them bleed slightly more than usual at level 2, whereas a Criminal with a fire affinity might gain a skill that causes more pain to a target when the target is stabbed at level 2. You might get a choice for some of your class benefits for each of your affinities while others may be decided for you. The more compatible your class is with your affinities and skills the stronger you will be.
¡°Huh, well I think that Criminal covers my dark and blood affinities pretty well but I don¡¯t know how I could find a class that covers both my dark and light affinity, maybe I could get a class specifically for my light affinity?¡± Sin¡¯Albin pondered aloud, trying to understand how he could become the strongest person in Alfheimr, home of the elves.
Now beginning the second portion of the tutorial. You will be faced with an escalating numbers of monsters and will be able to level. If you die. You will be revived but will lose your chance to continue leveling in the tutorial, and will be fast tracked to the third portion of the tutorial
At the same time the message appeared, the chains restricting Sin¡¯Albin¡¯s movement disappeared. They were replaced with leather armor and two daggers. One of the daggers had a blade the length of his forearm, while the other had a blade with a length about the same as his hand.
Do you wish for different weapons/armor?
¡°Nope,¡± Sin¡¯Albin said smiling as he began to stretch ¡°I don¡¯t know where you got such a great replica of my original armaments but I like it¡±
Round 1: one Common Level 1 monster
A squirrel the size of a toddler appeared in front of Sin¡¯Albin. They both froze for a second before the squirrel pounced at Sin¡¯Albin in a flurry of claw attacks. Sin¡¯Albin merely sidestepped the pounce and stabbed with his long dagger, hitting the squirrel in the heart and killing it immediately. After it died the squirrel disappeared into white motes of light that slowly floated upwards. ¡°Well that was easy, I wonder what¡¯s next?¡± Ten seconds later a second notification appeared
Round 2: one Uncommon Level 1 monster
Another squirrel the same size as the first appeared. The only difference between this one and the last one was the white streaks in its fur. The squirrel used the same tactic as the first as well and pounced straight at Sin¡¯Albin. Sin¡¯Albin performed another sidestep and stab, only to watch as the squirrel somehow jumped in midair and changed direction to land a scratch on his arm. ¡°Huh¡­ well this could get interesting¡± He said as he threw his smaller dagger just as the squirrel landed behind him, managing to land a fatal blow with the throw. ¡°Well this could get tricky¡± Sin¡¯Albin said as he grabbed his thrown dagger and prepared himself for round 3 ¡°but I can¡¯t afford to not put on a good showing for the Gods.¡± ___________ Lucipher looked at the screens showing the Alfheimr candidates in thoughtful contemplation, an expression that was unusual for his character ¡°Having a hard time choosing between the two, huh?¡± Jarvos, God of Fire said. ¡°Huh?¡± Lucipher said, ¡°Oh no, I was merely thinking of the poor halfling last round, if he had been a rogue type instead of a mage I might¡¯ve picked him.¡± Archimedes snorted ¡°That halfling will never amount to anything, mark my words, I for one am glad that none of you made a poor decision to choose him.¡± Jarvos shrugged and said ¡°We will see how right or wrong you are in the future, however I do wonder which of the two candidates you will choose, both of them have high rogue potential.¡± Lucipher let out a little laugh and said ¡°look at the boy¡¯s affinities, I might take some long odds, but dual opposing affinities is nearly impossible to get right, I know of few gods who¡¯ve made it to that level without some synergy between each of their affinities.¡± ¡°Huh,¡± Jarvos said ¡°I hadn¡¯t noticed that, I guess he might not be able to grow, certainly not at the rate we need them too. It¡¯s the same as that timid halfling, they might grow but we need them to grow moderately fast as well. That would be long odds indeed¡± _____________ On the outskirts of the Pantheon¡¯s 7 worlds lay an unassuming coffin surrounded by 6 mummified corpses. The coffin lid slowly opened to reveal a man with spectacularly average features. He had slightly pointed ears, canines that were slightly more pointed than the average human, and had what almost looked like a mane of pure black hair. He wore leather armor that was dyed a dark grey, and on his breastplate was the symbol of an owl. After a few seconds his eyes opened, revealing eyes that were a solid silver, and he let out a loud gasp, clutching his chest. After a few deep breaths, the man sat up so fast that it appeared he teleported into a seated position. With a rush of wind the man appeared in front of each of the corpse, saying a few words in a dry, cracked voice, as if the man hadn¡¯t spoken for several years. After whispering to the last corpse he stood up, wiping tears from his eyes and said ¡°The Gods will pay for those Accords¡±. The man then closed his eyes to access the system, and begin his search for those who were truly worthy.