God of What? 1 (Patreon)

Commissioned by Kejmur

Tags: Danmachi, SI

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God of What?

Chapter 1

-VB-

“So do you accept?”

I looked up at the thing, who called itself the Chronicler, and wondered if this was a good idea. After all, wasn’t that the saying? Things that are too good to be true are exactly that?

At the same time, Chronicler had done me a favor. My death, as traumatic as it was, didn’t jar my spirit because, according to it, it had shielded me from “undue stress.” It had also explained that it needed a conduit to access new worlds and to gain more power. It would share with me some of its power so that it could grow and ascend even higher.

The phrasing it used told me that it was already some form of ascended being but not ascended enough for its liking.

So here was a being, a very powerful being, offering me, a random normal dead person, a chance at something greater.

Yes, it explained exactly what it wanted and what the price on my end would be.

What exactly would be my price?

It would send me to a universe I was familiar with (how I would be familiar with it, I didn’t know) and asked me to “alter the timeline enough that the differential energy that comes from the creation of an alternate timeline would feed me.” It wasn’t anything bad, Chronicler explained.

“So I would … be like a lesser you?” I asked Chronicler, and the formless entity that was both infinitely too much for me yet quantifiably in front of me nodded.

“Yes. Since I will be giving a piece of myself, you will gain aspects of it. If you need an analogy for this process, then think of it as how an apprentice craftsman “inherited” skills and know-how from his master. It’ll also be a good practice for me. I haven’t done this before, and if something does go wrong, then I’ll make your transition to the afterlife as fast as I could.”

“Sure,” I replied after a while. “Why not? Where are you sending me? What powers are you giving me?” I paused. “Wait, what do you even do?”

For the first time, I sensed Chronicler’s amusement.

“You’ll see,” it said as my vision whited out.

-VB-

When I blinked and opened my eyes, I found myself staring at … Orario.

Oh, I just knew it.

Actually, it was hard to miss the giant Babel-esque tower rising high into the sky that stood in the middle of a medieval walled city. Sitting on the edge of the wall, I allowed myself to plop backward onto the battlement. I certainly recognized that I was in Danmachi, or “Is It Wrong to Pickup Girls in the Dungeon?” universe.

“Now what?” I thought to myself.

And as if Murphy himself had noticed me, Chronicler’s little “gift” came crashing down into my soul.

And I mean my soul.

It’s like …

Oh, I screamed. I screamed like you would not believe, because I felt Chronicler’s hands grab my soul, stretch and rip me apart in just the right way that none of the soul pieces were disconnected from each other, stuffed me full with bits and bobs of himself, and then sewed my soul shut.

I felt all of it like a flashback except happening then and there. A process that should have taken years was condensation into a single minute.

Mind you, my personal perspective of time changed, so for me, I spent an year in an unending exaltation of pain and suffering without having my body’s mental fail on me. Souls are far more pliable, apparently. I knew. Somehow. Something Chronicler must have given me.

When I am finally out of the torture, I found myself staring up at the blue sky with white fluffy clouds … and an unfamiliar person staring down at me.

He was a tall and muscular man in robes. He looked like an ancient warrior on his day off.

“Hello,” I greeted him casually.

He hummed without responding before nodding to himself.

Then he showed me a brilliant smile. It was … genuinely welcoming smile.

“Welcome to Orario City, kin! I AM GANESHA!”

Ganesha?

I blinked as I remembered an elephant-masked and flamboyant god who always screamed out his own name.

“Kin?” I asked.

“Yes, you are a god like this Ganesha! Welcome to the Lower World! It’s certainly different from the Heavens, no?” he laughed as he pulled himself back and let me stand up on my own. “Ganesha hopes that you find what you are looking for! As for Ganesha, he wants to see spectacles and festivals the likes of which the Heavens have never seen before! I bid you a good day, fellow deity! Ganesha leaves!”

I stared after the man - god - as he walked down the stairs to the ground below, and I couldn’t help but wonder half a dozen things.

The first of which was “why was I here specifically?” and the second of which was “when am I?”

Those questions wouldn't be answered for some time. 

In the mean time, I went to explore.

-VB-

When I eventually made my way down the wall and onto the streets, I found myself looking around with interest.

And … how should I say this?

Feeling carved yet solid cobblestone underneath my feet rumble as carts and horses passed by and the bustling crowd of many different species filled me with …

Elation?

Happiness. It was new, it was familiar, and it was awesome.

I was on my own adventure.

‘And apparently, I am my own god here,’ I thought. If Ganesha thought I was god, then there had to be some merit. The guy, from what I remembered, was not known for being deceitful or outright stupid, just bombastic and flamboyant. ‘But why am I a god in his eyes?’ I asked myself as I walked into an alley and allowed my new expanded soul to “flow” out.

… Ah. I see.

I couldn’t help but thank Chronicler for using a very familiar template for my powers. After all, even if I knew instinctively how to use any new powers, there would still be a degree of unfamiliarity. A person from my time would have an easier time using a Kaleshiknov than some 3099 hypervelocity driver Infantry Model XL-8.

As for what I got, I received a limited multiversal gate network, self-biokinesis, forest transformation, general body upgrades, and … the ability to turn into Pokemon. It actually fits in with the rest of the powers (except the gate network) that I had because it was about transforming myself.

Except that wasn’t the case because I also had Skitter’s power (but not Queen Administration the Shard) and Jack of All Trade, which allowed me to build anything humanity in 21st century could make. If I had the tools and the material to make them, that was.

So am I supposed to be a God of … transformation? Considering that I could also make machinery, should I go more for God of Transformation, not just of nature and body but also of the mind and era?

And that’s roughly when I ran into someone I didn’t expect to run into.

I just walked out of the alley and around the corner of the street when I felt something soft and warm push up against me, flatten out while keeping its rough shape, and then bounce back with more force than I’d expected.

“Ow!”

Blinking, I looked down at the person I’d run into.

And my eyes widened when I saw Hestia.

Well then…