Transcendence

by Tenebris Lucifer

Transcendence: We Call this a Difficulty tweak

“Attention Players!” A deep guttural voice boomed from above, “For those of you that have passed the tutorial congratulations, however for those of you who haven't, well…” The voice chuckled darkly. “You aren't here to hear me anyways, now then let's get you all out of that dreadful world.”

As soon as the voice finished I found myself in a room with hundreds of other people. I was slightly disoriented from the sudden shift, but sobered up when the voice started speaking again

"Now then since you are all settled i would like to once again congratulate you all for surviving, out of the 2.8 billion that survived the mana injection a total of 1.12 billion have survived, an amazing amount I assure you. However, let's get on with the rest of it." The voice cleared their throat, “first off none of you will be returning to earth for a good while.”

A large ruckus erupted as people were talking over each other, some of them even broke down further, perhaps realizing that this wasn't just a bad dream, however soon after there was nothing but silence, people were still trying to talk and scream but no sound came out.

“Better” The voice muttered in annoyance, “Now then before we let you loose there are two things you should know. One, you will all start on a variety of planets, some easier than others but all difficult in their own right.” The voice explained carefully, “And two you must all choose a difficulty mode, this will determine what world you will be sent to. Keep in mind that the higher the difficulty the higher the rewards you will be allowed one earth hour to discuss this with your handler.”

And with that little tidbit I found myself back in Thoth's flat.

“Thoth!” I yelled out.

He popped out of a nearby doorway in his human form grinning ear to ear and proceeded to crush me in a massive bear hug,

“I knew that you would survive Alex but to kill every single boss in the tutorial zone? Amazing!” Thoth exclaimed jovially.

I just stood there quietly waiting for him to let go of me.

Thankfully I didn't have to wait for too long, “Um Sorry?” He apologized sheepishly, “I was just excited, this is the first time any player killed all of the tutorial bosses.”

I silently looked at him.

“Come let us discuss what's next.” Thoth gestured over to the couch.

Following him I sat down on the couch and watched as he sat across from me.

“First off, what difficulty do you want to do?” He asked hesitantly.

I didn't respond for several minutes as I considered my answer.

“The hardest difficulty there is,” I said to Thoth.

He nodded gravely, “I thought you would say that, so here.”

He reached over and pressed his hand to my chest. A cold feeling permeated throughout my body as I felt something change within myself.

“What did you do to me?” I questioned, fear gripping my ever so slightly.

“I noticed that you gained a demon skill, so I went around and collected some favors from a couple acquaintances of mine and got some powerful sin fragments.” He told me.

My fear slowly faded, “Is that even allowed?” I questioned.

Thoth chuckled, “technically no but I guarantee that the others are doing something similar as well, and you need not worry too much about losing control to the sins as I made a deal with another god that would let you receive a skill to improve your mental strength.”

“What sort of deal?” I asked.

“In exchange for him giving you the unbreakable will skill you need to sign a patron contract with him.” He explained.

I looked very closely into Those eyes , the look in his eyes made him look beyond tired, switching my focus to the rest of him he looked frazzled, hair out of place, shaking hands, and bags beneath his eyes.

I sighed, “What would this entail?”

He perked up at this, “Well you would get some of his exclusive skills and in exchange you would need to spread his stories, as well as mine of course.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Spread his stories?”

He nodded in a half hearted way, “He, unfortunately, did not owe me a favor like the others so I had to make a deal, I had no way to contact you to ask your opinion so I could only guess.”

I sighed again, “It's alright Thoth you know that I want to become more powerful so I’m good with it.”

A relieved grin flashed across his face, “I thought you would be mad.”

“Wouldn't change anything even if I was,” I replied with a shrug.

“That's fair,” he said.

“So how am I supposed to sign a contract with him?”

Thoth pulled out a piece of parchment and a pen, “Just sign this.”

I took the contract and pen from Thoth and slowly read through it. There were a couple of strange clauses but nothing that would be detrimental for myself, in fact it looked too good to be true. However the last cause made me raise an eyebrow.

“Thoth?”

“Yes”

“This last clause states that I must, and I quote get revenge upon the gods for myself and my siblings, any reason for this?”

Oh, well, um… You see, originally the gods of the apocalypse wished to be the ones to bring the end to humanity as foretold, however many of the other gods voted on the outcome you are currently experiencing,” Thoth finished nervously.

“Did they participate in what happened to me?”

Thoth shook his head, “No they refused to participate after the other gods decided to use humans as toys.”

I nodded and signed the contract, “So long as they did not participate in the mana injection I'm fine with working with them.” I finished saying as I handed the contract to Thoth.

He took the contract and nodded mutely

“Is something wrong Thoth?” I asked curiously.

He slowly nodded, “Do you resent me?”

I chuckled, “yes, I may be willing to work with you and chat with you but I do resent you,” I smiled “I resent all of the gods that caused me pain.”

“I see,” He replied sadly.

“So then who is this other god I had to contract with?”

He paused for a second, as if considering his answer, “He is known as Narinder, one of the horsemen of death, you should get all of the new skills when you are sent to your spawn area so to speak”

“Alright then, anything else?”

“No.”

“Bye then,” opening my interface a selection screen popped up asking me what difficulty I wanted. And after briefly second guessing myself I selected the hardest difficulty. Once I selected the difficulty I felt myself being swept away.

‘Whatever may come’ I thought to myself, ‘I’ll be ready’

I wasn't ready