Michael: ‘So this is what the afterlife looks like? It’s pretty boring here if you ask me.’

  As Michael thought that, he looked around and saw vast darkness covering every angle of his sight. That is, if he had any sight. After all, he had died and left his mortal body already, so he was probably now a spirit of some sorts.

  Michael: ‘Surprisingly, it feels like I’m still in my own body, I even still have my sense of touch. Still, what is this place?’

  As he looked around some more, he couldn’t see anything around. However, he didn’t feel like he was floating in midair or something similar, he felt as if he was walking on solid ground. He knelt down, and surprisingly to him, he could touch the smooth surface with the tips of his fingers. However, he couldn’t see the ground with his eyes, or whatever was giving him sight.

  Michael: ‘Wow, this is strange. I can even feel the coldness of the ground, or whatever it is. Still, this place doesn’t resemble anything I’ve read in the Divine Comedy.’

  While Michael was an avid reader of Japanese light novels, he also read timeless classics from other cultures. One such book was Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. Michael thoroughly enjoyed it, as it discussed the repercussions that a person’s actions on Earth had on his afterlife. If he were to compare the current place he was in to the book, Michael probably would’ve guessed one of the terraces of Purgatory, or perhaps Limbo.

  Limbo can be immediately crossed out of the equation. Michael was a Catholic Christian, and was baptized when he was born. He wasn’t too religious though, he just believed that a higher being created and directed the universe, and found that Christianity best represented his beliefs.

  That would normally leave one to conclude that he was in Purgatory. But Michael didn’t see anything that would resemble one of the terraces of Purgatory. There was nothing here, nothing at all. Michael never heard or read about a stage of Purgatory that had a person suffer loneliness, so he was obviously confused about this place.

  After spending some time deep in thought, Michael could only come to one conclusion.

  Michael: ‘There’s no use thinking about it. I won’t be able to find out anything about this place unless someone specifically comes to visit me. Haaaaaaah. How I miss my friends.’

  With that thought, Michael’s brain quickly went back to thinking about Yuna. She was not only his close friend, but the first girl he had ever loved. And who knows? Maybe if he had lived longer, he would have gotten the opportunity to get married with her. After all, she did confess to loving him, albeit a little too late.

  Michael: ‘Now that I think about it, I really died too soon. I still had my whole life ahead of me. I could have been happy with Yuna and had kids with her and-and-and live with her until we would finally die of old age. Yuna… Yuna… Yuna… And Sam too. He was such a great friend, even joking right before my death, ha, ha, ha… at least, I hope he was.’

  As Michael was reminiscing about the days of his former life, the darkness around him was still present, still as ice, as if it will remain here for eternity.

  Michael: ‘I just want to get out of this place, as it is incredibly boring. Besides, how long have I remained here already? For all I know, I could have been here for years already, my sense of time is so screwed up here… what the…?’

  As Michael was silently complaining inside his mind, a bright flash of light suddenly blinded him and Michael quickly threw up his hands to cover his eyes. Yet, that didn’t help at all and Michael noticed, as the light died down, that he couldn’t see his hands. This produced a weird feeling in him as he could clearly feel his arms, but he couldn’t see them at all. Michael quickly looked down at his body and noticed that he couldn’t see himself at all. This led Michael to believe that he was transparent in his spirit form. Astonished by the new revelation, his thoughts were quickly interrupted by a booming voice.

  ???: [Ha, ha, ha, good guess, good guess! Your spirit form is a transparent and genderless entity! Even I, without my omniscient sight, can only vaguely see your outline.]

  Michael: ‘This voice… this light… is this… God?’

  God: [Indeed, I am. Though, I only appear to you in the form that you imagine me to be in. Ha, ha, don’t be surprised. Of course I can read your mind; I don’t even need my omniscient sight for that.]

  Michael: ‘You keep talking about omniscient sight as if you don’t have it right now, what do you mean by that?’

  God: [Well, I’m the one true God, and I’m an omnipotent being. However, when you have all the power in the world, it does get quite a bit boring. So I usually turn my omniscience off, it makes things more interesting that way.]

  Michael: [Well, I guess that is understandable. Still, what is this place? Before you came, it seemed to be some dark void or something.]

  God: [That’s because this is a space-less and timeless void! Normally I use this place to just store stuff. For instance, if you had continued to go in that direction for about what would feel like a year, you would have stumbled upon a powerful artifact that I plan to transport into this new world that I created.]

  Michael: ‘New world? So there are other worlds other than Earth in existence?’

  God: [Of course! In your former universe, Earth is a unique place. In fact, it is the only place with sentient beings… but that is only true within the realms of your former universe. In reality, there are many worlds and universes that I created, partly because of boredom, partly because of curiosity.]

  Michael: ‘That’s very interesting. I do have one question though, why am I here? For what purpose did you bring me to this void?’

  God: [Right to the point, aren’t you? We could have had a further discussion about my creations and how the different worlds work, but I guess being in this void, even if for seemingly a couple minutes, does make you quite bored, so we’ll leave this discussion for another time.]

  God: [Right… so you remember when I mentioned the artifact that you could have retrieved if you went in that direction? That artifact was created for a new world called Etrerea. It is a massive world that is many times bigger than Earth. Don’t worry about the gravity; I changed the gravitational constant so that it would feel like Earth. I want you to be part of that world]

  Michael: ‘Oh great, I’ve read many light novels so I can see where this is going. You want me to be your champion, or a hero of some sorts. In the worst case scenario, you want me to be a demon king.’

  God: [I’m surprised that you didn’t consider that I just wanted you to be a normal human. But you are correct. I wouldn’t have yanked your soul out of another world just to place it into another one just like that. Not only is it inefficient, it would have broken my principles. No, I will be using you for something different. I assume that you have read the Greek myths and legends in your own world, right? Well, on Earth, they are just myths and legends, but on Etrerea, there will be a pantheon of gods and goddesses. Of course, they won’t be true gods like me, but they will be significantly more powerful than the general populace as well as immortal.]

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  God: [Right, so this leads to you. I have been gathering different souls to create the gods and goddesses of this world. Due to a series of events, you are qualified to become one. Of course, I can’t have you start off all-powerful and almighty, but the potential will be there. I have selected you… to become the Goddess of Beauty and Love in this world!]

  Michael: ‘…’

  God: […]

  Michael: ‘Um, you do know that I was formerly male, right?’

  God: [Huh? Wai-wai-wait, what? Jus-jus-just a second!]

  As Michael watched God summon a laptop in his hands, he couldn’t help but be amused.

  Michael: ‘Huh, so even God himself can become flustered. Well, we were created in his image, after all. Still, what’s with that laptop, I was expected a book of some sorts.’

  God: [Hey, a laptop is much more convenient to store data. Besides, can you use a book to play A*gry B*rds?]

  Michael: ‘Wow, so you play A*gry B*rds. You have such a horrible taste in games.’

  God: [Shut it! I play what I want. Let’s see… ah, here’s your profile. Well, you were indeed a guy in your former life. Let’s see… huh, I never imagined that my requirements would reel in a guy of all people.]

  Michael: ‘What requirements?’

  God: [Well, you see. I put in three requirements for a soul from Earth to arrive at this place. The first requirement was to read the fiction that I posted on RRL.]

  Michael: ‘Wait, wait, wait, the one who wrote it was you?’

  God: [Yes, I needed someone with a great sense of imagination, and what better place to search for than on a website dedicated to fantasy fiction?]

  Michael: ‘What are the other two requirements?’

  God: [Simply put, the other requirement was to empathize with the main character. I can’t have a heartless human coming into this world to assume the role of someone responsible for beauty and love, can I? And the last requirement is simple: it’s to look for the beauty in women and to strive to improve it. It was all automated to bring the first one who fulfils these conditions. I… I guess I didn’t really think about the gender part at all.]

  Michael: ‘So you basically fucked up…’

  God: […]

  Michael: ‘My death was predetermined from the moment I read that damn prologue…’

  God: […]

  Michael: ‘And… and I’ll never see the one I loved ever again…’

  God: [Well, I’m sure…]

  Michael: ‘DON’T GIVE ME THAT CRAP!!! You messed up and are now shoving me into a role that I don’t want and I don’t even fit in. And now you are acting as if you gave me such an honour even though I can care less! And you ruined my happiness for this bullshit?’

  God: [Calm down. I’m sure you’ll be able to see your friends again.]

  Michael: ‘How can I… wait, what do you mean?’

  God: [I think you’re forgetting you’re my own powers… as well as those of your future.]

  Michael: ‘So… so that means I’ll be able to see her again?’

  God: [Potentially. I will admit that I messed up badly this time. So, how about I provide a little bit of compensation?]

  Michael: ‘What do you mean?’

  God: [I’ll give you information… and an extra power.]

  Michael: ‘…Sounds good enough.’

  God: [OK. The world of Etrerea is unlike Earth. Earth only contains one sentient species: humans. On the other hand, Etrerea is filled with lots of them. Along with humans, you have the elves, dwarves, draconians, undines, fairies, beastmen, demons, and other species that you’ll just have to read about. There are also monsters and animals. Animals are… well, animals, and monsters are just animals that know how to use mana, until they reach a very high level, of course. Each being and monster are classified into ranks based on how strong they are, going from lowest to highest: F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, and finally, X. Normally, beings will be capped at SSS, since only I choose who has enough potential to reach X, and all of them so far are the ones I chose to become gods of this world. Of course, items will also be ranked by the same system as well, though they don’t have a cap.]

  God: [Now, to become a Goddess, your goal will be to reach the peak of power, the X rank. Don’t think it will be easy though, some of the souls I chose to become gods died along the way, so I had to find replacements sometimes. Normally, it will be extremely difficult, even with the potential that I’ll be giving you. But I’ll give you a cheat. Now, every being in this world use mana to a certain extent. Most beings only have a maximum affinity in one element, but depending on their potential, as well as race, they may have more than one.]

  God: [The elements in this world are the classic fire, earth, water, and wind, as well as darkness, light, metal, and wood. The classic four are the most common among the elements, while darkness and light are usually race specific. Metal and wood are extremely rare elements that almost never appear, and their true nature is shrouded in mystery.]

  God: [Here’s where you come into the picture. First, you’ll have maximum affinity in all the elements, otherwise, you can only dream about becoming a Goddess. However, I’ll also be giving you a certain skill that you’ll find out about when you get there. Skills are just techniques that can be used by beings. Passive skills are skills that can be learnt and have a constant effect on a person. It can be anything, ranging from weapon mastery to quick reading. Active skills can also be learnt and are activated on command. Examples of such skills include firing a fireball, as well as enchanting your weapon with an affinity. Special skills on the other hand, cannot be learnt. They are restricted to individuals and usually are skills inherited from bloodlines or given to them by gods.]

  God: [Now that we got all that out of the way, are you ready for some new experiences?]

  Michael: ‘Well, not really…’

  God: [Excellent! I’m glad that we’re all good to go! Now then…]

  Suddenly, Michael could feel as if though he was falling.

  Michael: ‘Argh, why couldn’t he make this easier?’

  And with that thought, Michael lost conciousness.