Reincarnation

James was completely caught off guard by what Ellis had just said, he sat there for a good minute and a half before finally snapping out of it.

"Hold up can you elaborate?!" said James frantically

"I guess that would shock you at first, well I guess I'll explain everything in one fail swoop then, Shin can you cast [Mental Fortitude] on James, please?" said Ellis

"it would be my pleasure," said Shin sarcastically while bowing.

...

After the spell took root and James calmed down Ellis started explaining everything James needed to know...

[A/N, time for info dumb, Hehe :)]

"So firstly, I'm sure you've already guessed but you're dead, yes shocking I know, anyways, normally you would've entered the cycle of reincarnation again, whether you would keep your memories, I don't know, but anyway, for you to understand everything first let's backtrack some."

"you see, in "Heaven" if you will, the gods have been in an internal struggle for millennia now, as you know when you were first sent into Rengard the gods didn't interfere at all in the lives of mortals, however, that all changed around the time you reached 1,000 years old."

"Around the time when you were 1,000 - 1,010 the gods had a schism happen between two parties, the first wanted to announce their existences to the people of Rengard, while the other wanted to refrain from doing so and let the world continue, well obviously the party that wanted to announce their existence prevailed and the mortals learned of the true gods, and so another 1,000 years went by and the gods had done many things behind the scenes to act against you, you see, they felt threatened by you, you were so powerful and beloved that if you started to condense faith then you could become a powerful god born from faith unlike the weaker natural gods, so they hatched plans to kill you and after 350 more years, when you were 2,350 they finally succeeded."

"At first Shin and I were a little sad that they succeeded and so we left the matter alone and in the blink of an eye 20,000 years passed on Rengard, what Shin and I least expected to happen was you had stayed within limbo solely off of your hate and disdain for the gods."

"So, we took that as an opportunity to call you here and offer you a proposal."

"And what would that be?" asked James.

"We would like you to enter the "Game of Demon Lords"," said Shin.

"The what?" asked James

[A/N, Time for another info dump]

"While you were uh, Dead, the world of Rengard changed, now every 1,000 years a Demon Lord shows up and tries to destroy whatever they please and to counter that a gods chosen hero is summoned to kill them, for the most part, the hero always wins but there have been a couple of times where the Demon Lord won but instead of world domination they built a Kingdom of their own and ruled till their deaths," said Ellis.

"Then what is the "Game of Demon Lords" then?" asked James.

"To give a quick overview before the Demon Lord is sent to Rengard, they go through the game where 1,000 potential Demon Lords fight for dominance in a world similar to Rengard called Terra (not earth) this world has the same races and ecosystems as Rengard, you could call it a parrel world made for this sole reason," said Shin.

if this happens every 1000 years, how is Terra not destroyed yet?" asked James.

"Ah good question, you see time flows differently in both worlds, 1 year in Rengard is 5 for Terra, so for them, it is every 5,000 years, and in that time, it allows them to rebuild and make minor advancements in civilization but nothing too major, although it may seem cruel it's necessary," said Ellis.

"Hold on, doesn't that mean 100,000 years have passed?" asked James in shock.

"Good observation, but to answer your question, yes, 100,000 years have passed on Terra since your death," replied Ellis.

"Then doesn't that mean there have been 20,000 demon lord candidates? how has Terra not succumbed to the demon lords much less the dungeons they left behind? that is correct, right? I'm assuming they leave behind the dungeons they create or am I wrong?" asked James.

"Wow, we've got ourselves a thinker don't we Shin?" said Ellis laughing.

"He wouldn't have reached such a height in life if he wasn't smart, but to answer your question, yes, the dungeons do get left behind, however, since they lose their owner, the dungeons become extremely weakened and stay like that until a new owner comes or the core is destroyed," said Shin

"Are demon lords the only ones who can control a dungeon or can other people take control of the core?" asked James.

"Other people can take over abandoned cores and they will get the job [Dungeon Master] however the are those who destroy dungeon cores and get the job dungeon explorer and later conqueror, these people live for the destruction of all dungeons, although strong they are few in number," said Ellis.

"Job? like classes in RPG games?" asked James.

"Exactly but colored me impressed that you still remember things from earth even though you've lived for 2,000+ years." Said Shin.

"What can I say, I have a photographic memory, plus it doesn't hurt that the goddess who reincarnated me gave me the ability to call back any memories I have," said James.

"But anyways back to the topic of jobs, another thing you should know is that during the time you were dead some changes have been made to Rengard as a whole. for example, although the different areas of the supercontinent haven't changed, some new islands and mini continents have sprouted up since then, but don't worry that shouldn't change anything for you as long as you win the "Game of Demon Lords". Secondly, a new status screen was implemented into both Rengard and Terra, I'm the one who made it. you see, after your death, most kingdoms and the occasional empire have been theocratically ruled in a sense, although the ruler is still a king or emperor, those monarchs report directly to the patron god/gods of that nation." said Shin.

"Wait so you're telling me the gods have that strong of a grip on the lives of the people now?" Roared James in fury.

"Kind of, the majority of human countries are ruled like that however there are a couple whose patron god/gods are more laid back and let them govern themselves unless interference is needed. I have a couple of countries who treat me as their patron god, but I don't interfere at all with the governing unless another country or god attacks them." Said Shin.

"Hmm, so the way it works is the gods are the protectors of the kingdoms?" asked James.

"Yes and no, you see most of the gods are corrupt little shits who abuse their power and use the monarchs as puppet rulers, however not all gods are like them, the gods who are more hands-off like me are mostly the primordial gods, for example, the gods of elements, these gods are more laid back and don't abuse their power its more of the new gods who ascended to godhood through dirty means that abuse the power," said Shin

"I have another question, are there levels now? and do the gods also control the countries in Terra?" asked James.

"No there aren't levels, the status screen is more so to show your job and your "Skills". skills are basic things you can do, for example, if you are learning magic then once you've entered the first circle a new passive skill called [Mana Control] will appear, and next to it instead of a level will be your circle, however, skills themselves have levels, the level indicates your proficiency with said skill, for example, say someone learns the first circle spell [Fireball] on their status it will say [Fireball Lv. 01]," said Shin.

"Hmm I see, but what's a circle?" asked James.

"Oh, that's right, I forgot you lived before that whole system was made, basically each circle is like the tier or level of the spell and magic you can use, for example, 1st circle magicians can only use the most basic magic like a fireball, water ball, etc. so around 12,000 years after your death the great mages of the time devised a system of ranking magicians and their power, what they came up with was the circle system due to how you would establish a circle of mana around your heart, so to break it down there are 10 circles of magic 1st circle being the most bare-bones basic and 10th being able to wipe a small kingdom off the map, each circle is further divided into early, middle/mid, and peak." Said Shin.

"While that's the basic way of doing things, one thing the mages didn't take into account is the more mana you have the more powerful your spells would be, so the system is like a basic category type of thing." Said Ellis

"I see, then how are knights and all others who can't cast spells categorized?" Asked James.

"The ranking of a swordsman, archers, and other stuff like that is called tiers instead of circles, so the basic system of 1st - 10th still tracks it's just a different term used." Said Shin

"So are there any levels higher than that? because not to brag but I was easily stronger than 10th circle, and 10th tier when I was alive," said James

"Yes, there are, after 10th circle/tier it goes, Master, then Grand Master, then Magus/Sword Saint, then Demigod, and after that, the person will start condensing divinity if they can." Said Ellis

"I see". Said James.

"Oh, and disclaimer, since you've died many years have passed and naturally the mana in the air has thinned, in turn, magic and other things mana-based aren't as strong as they used to be. Back when you were alive the average strength of a soldier was by today's standards 7th circle/tier, but now the average soldier may barely reach 2nd circle/tier, of course, knights and mages valued by a country will reach higher due to having more resources, but the fact remains, people are way weaker now than they used to be." Said Shin.

"Wow that's a little depressing, oh I almost forgot, why did you create the status screens?" asked James

"Well, you see, there are more human gods than any other race so around 8,000 years ago there was a huge crusade to wipe out most of the "Demi-Humans" as they're called now, and so to make things fairer I implemented this system as a buffer to level things out, I mean I can't have a whole race go extinct on me now, can I?" said Shin jokingly

"Wow, humans sure do suck don't they," said James

"Yup," said Ellis

"Enough talk let's get James ready to be sent down to Terra to start the game!" said Ellis while pouting

"One last thing, there is this new power that knights have perfected over the millennia, and it is called Aura, back when you were alive people would just strengthen their bodies by infusing mana into it as well as their weapons, but now with mana becoming more and more scarce, as well as old mana accumulation arts, being lost knights lost the ability to store enough mana to where they can do what was once normal for all fighters. now knights cultivate with Aura techniques that use less mana but get the same effect more or less, however since they are in a sense using diluted mana knights are normally weaker than mages, however, there are some exceptions," said Shin

"Anyway, now that that's out of the way it's time to get you ready to go down and become a demon lord," said Ellis excitedly

"Here are some things you'll need to know before we send you down, first, each demon lord candidate has a specific defining power, in your case, it'll be created due to you getting the blessing of Shin the god of creation, secondly once you're sent down you and all demon lord candidates will be sent to a room of sorts where you will choose your type of dungeon and what starting minions you will have, some candidates will have a special type of dungeon and minion they can choose from that fits their power, thirdly, each candidate will be assigned a helper/assistant, these helpers will have all the necessary info for new demon lords and they will also be fighters who will help the dungeon, whether you get a mage, physical, or whatever type of fighter is random, fourthly, there is a dungeon point system in place, basically you can use these points to upgrade your dungeon, whether that may be traps, facilities, and many other things, you can also use these points to summon minions from either a template in place or a custom minion, keep in mind custom minions are way more expensive however they are also stronger, dungeon points can also be used as a currency between demon lords as well as on the dungeon shop that is set up to help demon lord candidates, fifthly, instead of a job your race will be that of a demon lord which leaves open a main class and two sub classes. although there are other things to know about, I'm not going to tell you so there is some semblance of fairness," explained Ellis

"From what you've told me this whole competition just seems like a game and I'm not quite happy about that, as you know I'm out for blood and I'm not in the mood to play a game right now," said James bitterly

"I understand your feelings but bear with us here, this is the process that's gone on for thousands of years and, to be honest, this isn't the first time something like this has happened, the universe is way older than you think it is, but anyway, please just go with us on this, don't worry you can vent your anger on the people of Terra, but I assure you if you do win then the world of Rengard will be ripe for destruction," said Shin

"Fine," said James begrudgingly

"Well since all of that's over I think it's time to finally send you down, what do you think James or should I say... Astaroth," said Ellis smiling

"Huh."

before Jam- no Astaroth could process what, she had said he felt himself getting lightheaded then sleepy until he finally passed out.

...

When Astaroth finally woke up, he found himself surrounded by other people who from the first glance he could tell were the other demon lord candidates,

Every single person there had two horns on their head, one on each side of their head, while some had tails others didn't, the next feature he noticed was the markings on everyone, these markings were somewhat like tattoos, some people had blue, red, there were even some grey markings when Astaroth looked down at his body, he noticed that he had purple markings, Astaroth looked around for a while and he had only seen maybe a few others who had purple markings, most of the others had blue, red, or grey.

the next peculiar thing he noticed was the brightness of the markings varied between people, he for example had bright purple while the others he had seen had dim to normal purple, while the other colors had a mix of bright, dim, and in-between.

Astaroth decided to get up and walk around the room that resembled a medieval banquet room, during his time as King and eventually Emperor, James had seen many banquet rooms yet this one he was in was even grander than that of any he had seen before.

After walking around for a few minutes, Astaroth found himself in front of a mirror and when he looked at his reflection he was surprised, the figure looking back at him was the same as how he looked when he was human, however, there were some changes, instead of his silver hair and bright steel blue eyes he instead had jet black hair which also had purple highlights, and his eyes now were a deep bright purple that resembled the markings on his body.

After admiring his reflection for a few minutes, Astaroth's attention was called to the stage where a woman who was perfectly proportioned and had beautiful deep black hair with bright blue eyes was standing, she also had skin that had a faint blue tinge to it and on her forehead was one small horn.

Astaroth's trance-like state was broken when the woman started speaking and what she said next had made several of the people around him gasp in surprise.

The woman had explained a majorly watered-down explanation that he had gotten from Ellis.

After half an hour or so she had finally stopped talking and a screen popped up in front of Astaroth that got him excited.

At the top of the translucent screen were two words...

Dungeon Creation