One Game: The Start of Everything
A young man with curly brown hair and a sharp nose was clicking on his advanced desktop computer in his room. It was the middle of August and the weather had just started to cool down with the smell of autumn in the air. His window was open and a slight breeze was circling through it into his room on the second floor of his apartment. He had a pair of sharp red glasses on his face with thick lenses. He was playing a strategy game on his desktop which involved custom cards. He looked relaxed as he leaned back in his black leather desk chair and took a deep breath of the fresh air from his window. He was wearing a stylish purple sweatshirt with a large red 'J$' on the back of it and a pair of checkered boxer underwear. This young man's name was Owen Drakes, a man who was already 25 years old this year, despite him looking like he was 20 with his babyish face.
*Breathes deeply*
"Ahh," he exhaled in a relaxed manner as he stretched his arms above his head.
The game he was playing now showed a rolling credits screen and he quickly skipped it before closing the application. He had completed it again. He would routinely play this game to relax because it wouldn't take too much of his attention.
"Argh, why are there no interesting games anymore..." Owen mumbled to himself as he clicked through different game advertisements on different websites. He spent the next few minutes leisurely clicking passed the newer games by unknown developers until he finally stopped on one that caught his attention.
[Fantasy World Simulator]
[A world filled with untapped potential and completely open.]
[Currently accepted players for Act 1]
[Total Players: 0]
[Developed by: ¢•∞º£≠–ºª•]
Owen scratched his cheek and his eyes glinted with a little bit of anticipation. He liked small mysterious games like this and even though not much information was given on the game page, it was interesting from what had been shown. The description mentioned that this game was experimental and used an advanced form of AI to build Eras of the world, represented as Acts.
Owen read and clicked around for a few more minutes before deciding to download it and try it. It was an Alternate Reality game that ran on the ETHUS coil station he had. The Alternate Reality games were the next generation after Virtual Reality, you could also say that this was a pinnacle level of virtual reality.
He got up from his desk and grabbed a small box of baked crackers from his apartment pantry to snack on while the installation was progressing. He came back after 5 mins with a small plate of cheese, crackers, and grapes assorted neatly on it. He then leaned back in his chair and fed himself the different snacks like an Egyptian emperor would have done.
*Drr drr*
The ETHUS coil station headset vibrated on his desk. It was connected to his desktop and it displayed the installation complete notification. Owen pushed aside his half-finished assortment of snacks while licking the cracker crumbs off his lips. He took a sip of water, adjusted his chair to the Alternate Reality safety setting, and started the game. The ETHUS coil console clicked and wrrd as it sprung to life.
*Click*
*Wrrr*
"Don't disappoint me," Owen mumbled before his vision turned black.
...
...
....
Owen's body appeared abruptly in a log cabin-like workshop. The walls were a thick wood, the air was fresh, a bright light came in through the windows, and an odd assortment of tools and workbenches laid out in front of him. He was wearing the same thing he had been wearing in his room, his purple sweatshirt and exposed boxers.
"Huh? No menu? This absurd." Owen criticized himself.
He glanced around the room carefully and started to wonder where he was. However, right as he had that thought, an info menu displayed in front of him.
//
[ (Unnamed) Creator's Workshop]
Type: Location?
Details: An unclaimed creator's workshop, contains all the tools needed to create rules, laws, treasures, creatures, worlds, and realms.
//
***Game Notice***
Hello, (Unnamed)
You are the first player to log in. You are also the first player to enter the Prime Era. You can view your rewards at any time in the Game Logs section of your HUD. You can display your HUD by thinking of the keyword: 'HUD'.
Have fun playing!
***Game Notice***
A small notice appeared quickly telling him that he was actually the first player to enter the game and that he could view his information by thinking of the HUD command. But other than that, this game didn't explain anything. A normal player might rage at this and report this in a user feedback section, but Owen was used to playing games like this where it was new, unfinished, or hard to understand. He loved the challenge of solving puzzles without much help or instructions and that was why he installed this game in the first place.
"They really don't help you at all. Great."
Owen nodded to himself as he looked around the room. He pulled up his HUD and the Game Logs to see his rewards for being the First Player and the First Player in the Prime Era. But right when he wanted to navigate his HUD menu an unclose-able prompt opened for him to enter his character name.
//
Enter your name:
//
"Alright, simple and to the point. Not bad."
Owen commented approvingly. He thoughtlessly entered his usual username into the form and closed the prompt. He now viewed his HUD in all its beauty.
//============//
Name: O'drake
Type: Person
Description: Healthy
//============//
"That's it?!" Owen shouted in surprise.
This was his status menu? He rubbed his eyes a bit and checked again. This was way too simple. He loved simple games, but not so simple as this where there is nothing interesting. Where are the character stats? The superhuman skills?
Owen glanced back at the creator's workshop description from earlier and noticed it had been updated.
//
[ O'drake's Workshop]
Type: Location?
Details: The first creator's workshop, contains all the tools needed to create rules, laws, treasures, creatures, worlds, and realms. Contains an extra 2 greater cosmic cores.
//
Owen narrowed his eyes and decided to figure out what this place was. It seemed important and now it was apparently his. He leisurely made his way to a large-looking workbench filled with black and silver liquid inside a tank of glass and checked its description.
//
[ Location Workbench]
Type: Workbench
Details: A creator's workbench for crafting planets, worlds, planes, dimensions, and stars.
//
"I think I'm starting to understand something." Owen habitually combed his curled hair while he thought. He walked past the other workbenches in the room and checked their descriptions one after another.
//
[ Creature Workbench]
Type: Workbench
Details: A creator's workbench for crafting sentient races, beasts, plants, and monsters.
//
//
[ Treasure Workbench]
Type: Workbench
Details: A creator's workbench for crafting treasures, ores, special materials, and items.
//
//
[ Energy Workbench]
Type: Workbench
Details: A creator's workbench for crafting laws, rules, and special energy transformations.
//
"So I'm basically in a God's workshop, is that right? Interesting, very interesting." Owen smirked as he walked away from the workbenches and towards an elegantly arranged set of marbles the size of his hands on a blackboard. This table had small inlets for the giant orbs to rest in and each orb was transparent like glass, while the inside looked like a swirling galaxy. The table was black with silver dots scattered throughout. The entire scene looked exactly like a 3rd person's view of a part in space, with scattered galaxies throughout it. The orbs were of varying sizes, Owen took one of the largest ones he could see and held it in his hand.
//
[ Cosmic Core (Greater)]
Type: Mystery
Details: A greater cosmic core is used to craft new wonders by skilled creators. A greater core can create greater wonders at the energy, location, creature, and treasure workbenches.
//
Owen picked up one of the smallest cosmic cores as well to compare.
//
[ Cosmic Core (Small)]
Type: Mystery
Details: A small cosmic core is used to craft new wonders by skilled creators. A small core can create small wonders at the location, creature, and treasure workbenches.
//
Owen set the small comic core back on the table and took the greater cosmic core to the Energy Workbench. He wanted to play with the energy workbench first since the small comic core couldn't even be used on it. He ranked the energy workbench slightly higher than the others due to this restriction.
'Perhaps this is difficult enough to require a certain threshold due to its higher rank of crafting.' he thought.
He placed the greater cosmic core on the energy workbench and a new menu was displayed for him.
//
[Energy Crafting]
Type: [Energy Transformation], [Law], [Rule]
Description: []
//
Owen scratched his head.
"Is this the so-called crafting? Does it use an AI to generate something based on my input?" Owen said to himself.
He selected [Law] for the type and typed in a description of an additional law for this game.
*** Game Notice ***
A greater cosmic core is being used to craft and thus will affect the universal laws of all creations in the future. This will become a baseline rule for all adaptations and future creators.
*** Game Notice ***
Owen raised his eyebrows in surprise.
'Sounds like this is the true perk of being the first player. Would this affect everyone after this? Perhaps these greater cosmic cores are rarer than I imagined and only a few would have the privilege of handling them.' he thought to himself quietly.
//
[Energy Crafting]
Type: [Law]
Description: [The Law of Rituals, the law of apocalyptic progress. All creation is subject to the law of rituals, through the sacrifices given much is risked so that limits can be exceeded.]
//
Owen completed his description and watched as the greater cosmic core melted into a mist and then turned into red threads in the air around him.
"For my next trick..." Owen grabbed the last greater cosmic core that he had on the table and placed it on the location bench. He then tagged the options he wanted and entered the description.
//
[Location Crafting]
Type: [Realm]
Description: [The origin realm, Rithum, contains the law of rituals. It is filled with beings that follow and thrive off the law. It is filled with spatial rifts to every location in existence which opens at the moment of that location's ritual apocalypse.]
//
Owen watched as the core melted and the galaxy inside dissolved like liquid, reforming into a new unending plane of existence. His vision changed and now he was looking down across this new endlessly vast expanse of space. He felt that he could modify the way things were here at but a thought. He floated around his newly created Plane, Rithum, in interest. With a wave of his hand, the rules of the place changed slightly and the entire landscape seemed to be black rocks and grey sludge. Glowing veins of thin red strings were present in the air and in the ground, indicating the connection to the law of rituals in this place.
A slight distance away a medium-sized bundle of red strings tangled like a ball of yarn. It pulsed with an eerie red glow, reflecting off the obsidian-like ground below it. Owen wondered just how much he'd be able to change in this realm before he reappeared back in his creator's workshop. He thought of adding some plant life, he created a small lily flower and planted it in the black obsidian stone. Immediately after, it mutated and changed to a black-colored plant, with veins of red pulsing across the veins of the flower.
"Hmm, this place feels... depressing," Owen muttered as he watched the plant change from a simple lily flower to a weird veiny flower. He also noticed that he could feel slightly less energy left from the greater cosmic core, which he would need to further use up before returning.
He spent the rest of the energy creating the same plants and animals that he knew of from earth, which surprisingly didn't take much energy. Before he knew it, he had a black desert and a black forest filled with different kinds of wildlife. Of course, they were all mutated by the law of rituals here. The creatures seemed to be extremely sluggish, the plants adapted to the lack of sunlight and water, and they appeared to live off of their connection to the law of rituals... which was very abnormal.
"Is this an effect of me being unspecific? I'm curious, what will this change? This game didn't let me down, it's interesting!"
Owen smiled lightly as he used the last of the cosmic cores' energy to make a mutated sunflower and returned to the workshop. He could now see a model of Rithum suspended in a globe above his head, like a chandelier inside the workshop. He could just barely make out the black and red features when he looked through the glass.
He walked back over to the board with the rest of the cosmic cores and gave them a scan with his mind to read their descriptions. There were 5 cosmic cores left which were ranked in size from smallest to biggest respectively: 1 small, 2 normals, and 2 lesser cores. He now knew that the larger the core, the more 'energy' he had left to add new things so the bigger cores were much rarer and should be used to strengthen what he already has added.
'Let's try another experiment, ' he thought as he grabbed two of the lesser cosmic cores and walked over to the energy workbench again. He set the cores on the workbench and opened the description menus for each, quickly finishing his creation.
//
[Energy Crafting]
Type: [Energy Transformation]
Description: [Ritan is the energy used to fuel all abilities and it is the diluted form of the law of rituals. Ritan can integrate into all being's bodies, minds, and souls. It will cause creatures to gain a Ritan ability through the law of rituals. All beings that use Ritan are mutated to be a member of the Rithum plane. ]
//
//
[Energy Crafting]
Type: [Rule]
Description: [Ritan is harnessed through a race Sigil, which is present in any beings that have formed a racial sigil. These beings are known as Glycons or great competitors for the Glyphs. Through the law of rituals, worlds are refined into Glyphs and the winning Glycon race shall reap the rewards, while the losers are eliminated. Glyphs are the ultimate form of treasure that can only be achieved through the ritual apocalypses.
Racial sigils manifest in different ways and are unique to that said race. ]
//
Owen watched as the 2 lesser cores melted into the table and turned into a stream of liquid red in the air. They merged with the Rithum model hanging above his head and now he could see specs of glittering blood-red shards sparkling in the air inside. These small flecks were the Ritan energy he had just created.
Owen willed himself to enter the model and watch the plants inside. He could see outlines of tiny Sigils trying to form on some of the plants and animals, but they weren't too intelligent to make them. The flecks of red light made the surroundings look like a beautiful dark painting. He checked to see if he could still find the string of the laws of rituals like before, but they were no longer visible and had dissolved into the Ritan flecks in the plane's atmosphere. He grinned as his experiment was a success, the AI was advanced enough to use his descriptions and affect his other creations. He successfully made his law of rituals interact with his Ritan energy and he made his Ritan energy interact with the rules system he created.
"Alright, I've verified it works... though I'm sure there are a few things that are off compared to my description," he muttered to himself.
Owen reappeared inside his workshop and walked to the table with his remaining cosmic cores while in deep thought. He didn't really have any more inspiration on what he should make with the remaining 3 cores. Should he make a treasure? More rules? A race? Creatures?
Eventually, he decided to make another rule, a race, and lastly a treasure for experimental purposes.
//
[Energy Crafting]
Type: [Rule]
Description: [Glyph strengthening can improve anything the user has to a higher level since the energy used is Ritan and the power of the law of rituals is fair gain, it is the universal upgrade. It can be used to upgrade anything in existence by 1 tier.
This fair gain makes Ritan a superior energy transformation, however, it is bound by the law of rituals.]
//
//
[Creature Crafting]
Type: [Race]
Description: [The law of rituals is a parasitic law for the multiverse, and thus parasitic natives are born from the Ritan in Rithum. The Sitterwelk is the first race that was created by O'drake himself. They are inverted creatures similar to mollusks. They are tripedal and averaged at 3 meters tall. They have 4 arm-like appendages that spin and twist to grip things. They have the racial Sigil, Hollow Mark. When the larva of a Sitterwelk devours a creature, it will evolve into an adult. This inverts a creature's body and creates its Hollow Mark ability based on the creature devoured.]
//
//
[Treasure Crafting]
Type: [Treasure]
Description: [Rubrix Helimon, is a cosmic treasure that looks like a helix of balled fibers twisting around each other. This treasure can break genetic limits on its user. No constraints of the holder's race will hold them back from challenging anything.]
//
Owen was quite satisfied with his narrative work. He made some disturbing-looking mollusk creatures, added a fun rule to make his Ritan energy superior, and made a treasure to break the limits of any creature's body.
He held the Rubrix Helimon in his hand. It swiveled around itself and looked like it was a vibrating wireframe ball, despite it actually remaining motionless.
*** Game Notice ***
A creator player has given information in a description for Tier evolutions. This will now be adapted to all identification screens for the multiverse.
*** Game Notice ***
Owen wasn't surprised. He figured that the game might take some of his comments in the description and expand on them. He didn't know that the game did this because he was the first player to make things, causing the AI to depend on his descriptions more when making the multiverse framework.
"Well, I think that's enough for one day,"
Owen yawned lightly and checked his personal description in the menu before logging off for the night.
//============//
Name: O'drake
Tier: ?
Type: Person
Description: Healthy
//============//
...
As Owen's character disappeared from his workshop, the game seemed to spring to life and time began to fast forward. A few game notifications sounded but nobody was there to hear them.
*** Game Notice ***
Content expanded successfully.
Content grade... Greater content was detected.
A content grade had been assigned for the work: [A-4 Antagonist] level
Assigning player O'drake relevant rewards...
Starting derivative genetic algorithms...
Deriving storylines...
Updating custom laws...
*** Game Notice ***
Time flashed by as thousands of years went by inside the plane of Rithum. Large black disturbing forests appeared and ash red debris filled the air. A deep red ocean formed from the collecting Ritan energy condensed into liquid form. The plane expanded further and further onward into an endless distance. Many different animals were degraded and changed at the basic level. They all gained parasitic attributes with the red and black hue of Rithum.
...
After an unknown amount of time passed, the time slowed back down. Leaving the plane of Rithum looking eldritch and completely foreign from Owen's first design. The SkitterWelk's race had spread across the forest regions, devouring the lesser species and inverting their musculature. A large SkitterWelk lumbered on its three legs in an even manner, its core body reminiscent of a humanoid monkey it had devoured in its larva stage. The muscles were completely exposed to the air and small black sludge dripped from the muscle fibers that were exposed to the air. It was 5 meters tall and had three blood-red eyes that scanned the surroundings intelligently.
*Urrrrrgggghhssssshshshshsshs*
It lisped a guttural roar and hiss loading while beating its chest with its 4 tentacle-like appendages. A wave of power emanated from it and pushed the nearby black trees down and splintered them. The Ritan in the air swirled around its central body where the monkey body was and a small unique sigil lit up in a blood red pattern.
It slowly bent its 3 legs, gathering power in them before leaping more than 20 meters in the air. It landed and crushed a sentient plant-like beast that had large sharp leaves which acted as teeth.
Its inverted facial muscles pulled into a human-like smile and showed its monkey teeth in glee. It shoveled the plant's meat into its mouth voraciously while watching its surroundings.
...
A game notice appeared once again after the game had sped up time by a significant degree for a few hours in real-time. The landscape inside the realm was entirely different from what originally had been and the creatures inside were diverse.
*** Game Notice ***
Filling gaps with known world data...
Deriving multiverse data inserts...
Elves added...
Dwarves added...
Humans added...
Random beast race generating... Skaven race added...
Virtual material sync starting...
Reality matrix online...
Launching multiverse integration...
Happy gaming... slaves
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It is done...
I will sleep now...
Bye... master...
*** Game Notice ***
After the game notice was displayed, all of the game worlds seemed to shut down. It was as if the power had been cut to a television: all of the reality disappeared into a shrinking black dot at the center. The creatures and colors swirled around a twisting black hole as if it was a large drain and reality was circling it. The colors mixed together like a rainbow of neon until finally, all that was left was blackness.