Gifts

'Am I dead?'

'After living for so long, that's how it ends ?'

'Divine spell ... Not a bad way to go.'

After lying on his back for a movement. He suddenly jotted awake. 

'Wait, can dead people even think ?'

Soon, Rio opened his eye. 

He now finds himself in a vast, white expanse, where a thin veil of fog drapes across the floor, giving the impression that he's floating just above the clouds.

'why do I feel like I'm getting use to waking up in unfamiliar places...' Rio scuffed.

[Welcome, Rio] 

Rio turned around and saw a man with indistinct feature walking up to him.

"Who are you ?"

[Me? I'm god. ] 

"Zephiron ? Moira ? " 

[Not exactly]

Seeing the god like figure ahead of him not disclosing any details regarding his identity, he soon gave up on asking more questions. 

"So. This is the afterlife? We really do have eternal afterlife ? " Rio asked. 

[No, there is no such things as afterlife, at least not in your universe] 

"So I'm not dead ?"

[No, don't get me wrong, there's not a single atom left of you in the world] 

[Afterall, Roland grabbed a piece of the sun and teleported it on top of you, only for it to be hijacked by Clara. tsk tsk, such fanfare for killing a mundane. She is getting pettier by the seconds.]

The man who called himself god sighed. 

Thinking of how Clara betrayed him in the end, Rio gripped his fist. 

"So what the hell is going on ? Why did you transport me into this world ? What is this universe? Why transport me right in front of the princess? How does she know where I am or where I'm from ? Why me of all people ?" Roi bombarded the man Infront of him with questions. 

[Well, to put it simply. I created this universe just for you. I let the setting run wild for billions of year until I felt the setting is right, then created Zephiron and imported your world's magic system !]

[This is all for you Rio. The divine gift that has been in the making for eons just for the protagonist to show up ! haha, this will be fun. ] The man said hysterically.

[Oh, to answer the question of how the princess know who you are. Basically, throughout the thousands of year that she have lived, I sometimes like to transport people from another world into this universe of yours. And she would find them and kill them as soon as possible.] 

"why?" Rio asked

[You see... She created the "equation". Once used, she is capable of calculating everything in the universe and be practically omniscient.] 

[And I don't exactly like that, so I began throwing in variables such as beings from another universe for fun to interrupt the equation.] 

[Well, I said for fun, but really ... It is to disguise your arrival to the world] 

[You would be the greatest variable that she will ever faced! The ultimate adversary ! The divine obstacle! The immovable object versus the unstoppable force !] 

As Rio watches the man mumbling hysterically to himself, only one thought crosses his mind: This guy is completely crazy.

[You ! You who want to live as long as possible ! Versus the genius Princess who aims to eliminate every obstacle. mmmhmmm ohhhh ~what a great match up !] The man began to pant and moan, lost in his thoughts.

'that still doesn't answer how she was able to find me. The everything equation? won't the existence of Zephiron, who is suppose to be god, be an obstacle to the equation ?

[Well you're exactly right! creation of the everything equation is before my interference and the existence of Zephiron, so it only calculate things that are mundane]

Rio, not at all surprised that the man could read his thought, continued to listen. 

[With the existence of Zephiron, who I appointed to oversee the creation and application of mana, it threw a wrench into the equation.] 

[But the princess was able to accommodate the existence of mana and still able to use the equation to predict general trend of everything up to a 50% accuracy due to mana following a strict logic and forming a tacit agreement with Zephiron. ]

[And the more variables she gets rid of, such as killing transmigrators and killing my blessed, the more accurate the equation gets. ] 

[And through using parts of the everything equation, she was able to decipher that you're one of the transmigrators] 

[Oh, that, and the fact that you literally fell to every single conversational tricks that she've made up to 100% confirm your identity.]

[My god, you thought you're playing her like a fiddle while dancing in her palm . How embarrassing.]

Rio blushed slightly and looked away, but he did not say anything.

[As for how she found you. Heh, I made sure to told her where you are so you two would meet !] 

[And you ! You will also be one of my blessed from now on !] 

[The first ever blessed transmigrator ! After all you're the main protagonist !] 

Staying silent for a while to digest the fact that he is a mere plaything in front of this god, Rio thought to himself. 

'So you put me infront of the princess to inform me of my future opponent?'

'What am I, just another character in your imagination that you can toy around however you like ?' 

'this dogsh*t god'

'Also blessed ? what are those ?"

[Well, I'm glad you asked]

[My blessed, the divine concept holders, are the second type of variables I threw in to disrupt the princess's calculation] 

'One that Roland guy has ? huh I think he said something along the lines of 'divine concept break' I wonder what was that?' Rio thought to himself

[Basically, whenever someone's specific personality trait becomes so pronounced that it embodies the pinnacle of that category among all humans... They could be granted a divine concept] 

[For Roland, its the desire for conquest, for the princess, its ambition]

[For you, it shall be self-preservation !] 

'huh, how fitting' 

'I wonder if there are more types of variables...'

[You can go figure out the details yourself later, I don't want to spoil too much!] 

[Now ! Any personal requests ?]

"Well, can I have immense magical talent ?" Rio immediately asked 

[Haha. No.] 

'tsk' Rio scuffed. 

The man looked at Rio for a while before continuing : [Well, don't be like that Rio. You have to understand. Even I operate within a principle.]

[I wouldn't just throw 2 powerful people into a world and expect them to fight. That would be boring. Where is the character growth ? Where's the motivation ? Where's the drama ?] 

[Well to put it simply, there needs to be logic into your background, not just overwhelming talent for the sake of being powerful] 

"Well, can I be born into a high noble family who love me a lot ?" 

[Nah.]

'This guy...' 

[Well don't blame me for being a dumbass...]

[Didn't I told you that the princess has the 'everything' equation ?]

[Due to my hinderance to the efficacy of the result. She is only able to see the general direction of the trend. So don't you think a prodigious noble son diverted from his original trajectory and change the general trend would immediately get you assassinated ?] 

[She has many experience in catching these discrepancies, low profile is the way to go if you want to live past 12 years old !] 

'tsk. fair enough'

"Well, can I be a really handsome commoner ?" 

[That would change the trajectory too far.]

"Just handsome ?"

[No.]

"Somewhat handsome ?"

[Deal !] 

[Now onto your predetermined talent !] 

'wait that's it for my bonus ? How petty. ' 

[You will be granted a average talent to not gather too much attention during certain assessments.] 

[But with you being my blessed, you'll be able to exert much more power than normal people]

[With that said, do be careful when using the divine concept, as any deviation too far from the predicted trend will incur the princess's attention on you. So until you're prepared enough to face her, don't go around showcasing your power too much.] 

[Well, that should be enough, figure the rest out yourself, off you go now ~] 

[When you are reborn into the world, the accuracy of the equation should be at around 65%. Do what you want with that information, good luck. ] 

'wait that's it ?'

Then again, before Rio was able to react again, he was unconscious again.