Aston left the hall the moment the ceremony ended. He didn't look back.
His body still ached, but excitement drowned out the pain. He moved fast — too fast — ignoring the stares of the others as he crossed the narrow streets toward his apartment.
He needed to see it again.The voice. The system.
By the time he reached his room, his breathing was uneven. The door creaked shut behind him, and he leaned against it for a second, catching his breath.
His lungs burned, his ribs ached, but none of it mattered. His heart was pounding for an entirely different reason.
A faint hum rippled through the air.
Then—
[Access Denied.]
[Requirement not met: Divine Contract incomplete.]
Aston blinked. "So I can't even open my status without a god's contract?"
He laughed under his breath, shaking his head. "Figures. Even the afterlife comes with paperwork."
Still, his curiosity burned hotter than caution. "Then let's try this…"
He straightened, took a slow breath, and said clearly, "Initiate contact."
For a heartbeat, nothing.
Then the air shifted.
The flickering candlelight froze mid-flame. A low vibration spread through the floorboards — deep, resonant, like the heartbeat of something enormous beneath the world.
[Initiating Divine Link… Searching for compatible deity.]
Aston's pulse quickened. The system's tone changed, quieter now, almost reverent.
[No compatible divine entities detected.]
[Reassessing… Unique soul signature discovered.]
[Alternative option available.]
The letters burned brighter.
[Would you like to form a Divine Contract with yourself?]
He blinked. "Wait—what?"
[Confirm: Establish a contract with Host: Aston Cavill.]
Aston hesitated only a moment before grinning. "Hell yes. Why not?"
[Confirmation received.]
[Initializing Self-Divine Contract Protocol.]
The world erupted in light.
A surge of energy crashed through him like lightning made of molten gold. Symbols he didn't recognize flared across his arms and chest, spinning, intertwining — forming a circle of light that burned without heat.
His body lifted an inch off the ground, weightless, as if the air itself bowed in reverence.
Then—
[Contract Complete.]
[System recognized as: The Divine Wheel.]
[Authority granted: Self-God — The One Who Turns the Wheel.]
The light dimmed. Aston fell back to the floor, gasping, the echoes of something vast still ringing in his ears.
He lay there, panting, eyes wide, staring at the faintly glowing sigil burned into the air above him — a golden circle turning slowly, endlessly.
He laughed softly. "A god… huh? Looks like I just made myself one."
For a moment, Aston just lay there, staring at the ceiling. His heartbeat had steadied — strong, rhythmic. The ache in his ribs was gone.
He pushed himself upright, flexing his fingers. The motion was effortless. His body no longer screamed in pain; his breathing was clear, light.
He glanced at his arm. The bruises and cuts from the alley were gone, skin smooth and pale under the dim light.
A slow grin spread across his face. "So… that's what being your own god feels like."
He exhaled softly. "Status."
[STATUS WINDOW]
Name: ???
Race: Human (??)
Age: 18
Class:Unique
Affiliation: None
Level:Lesser God
Divinity: 1
Divine Contract:The Divine Wheel
Skills: None
Aston blinked, staring at the floating status window. He was still trying to wrap his head around being classified as Unique and a Lesser God when something happened.
It wasn't a sound, or a voice. It wasn't light or movement.
It was… knowledge.
Suddenly, his mind exploded with information. Streams of data, history, rules, and truths about existence itself flooded his consciousness. The sensation was like standing under a waterfall of fire and ice at the same time — painful, exhilarating, and absolute.
He staggered back in his chair, clutching his head.
Fragments of understanding stitched themselves together with shocking clarity. The human ranking system he had known — levels 1 to 1000— was only a mortal measure, limited by frailty, lifespan, and physical law.
Level 1000? That was the boundary of humanity. Beyond that… a human could only reach Demigod.
And he wasn't a demigod.
He was above it.
Lesser God.
Aston's heart pounded as the new hierarchy unfolded in his mind:
Lesser God(Rank 1) — a god who has just transcended mortal limitations, initiating self-evolution.
Virtual God(Rank 2) — a god stabilizing their divine essence.
Greater God(Rank 3) — a god recognized across dimensions.
Supreme God(Rank 4) — a god capable of shaping worlds.
Venerable God(Rank 5) — a god whose will touches other gods.
Martial God(Rank 6) — a god who commands armies of mortals and deities alike.
King God(Rank 7) — a god ruling over realms, nearly invincible.
Emperor God(Rank 8) — a god whose power eclipses nations and dimensions.
Monarch God(Rank 9) — the pinnacle, a god whose existence is law itself.
The energy coursing through his body resonated with each title, each rank. He felt it in every fiber of his being — a pull toward something infinite, something vast, something impossible.
For a moment, Aston sat in silence, overwhelmed.
Then, slowly, a grin spread across his face.
"So… the humans clawed at 1000 levels for two thousand years," he murmured, voice low but sharp. "And now? I just… skipped the ladder entirely."
His fingers itched. He wanted to move, test, push. Even without conscious effort, he could feel his body humming with potential far beyond mortal comprehension — faster, stronger, more alive than the boy's body ever had been.
The slums, the alley, the Outer District… all of it felt irrelevant now. The world was the same, yet utterly small beneath him.
Aston exhaled, letting the weight of the revelation settle.
"I'm no longer human," he whispered.
....
Just as Aston finished digesting the flood of knowledge about gods and ranks, the golden glow of the status window flickered again.
[System Update Detected]
[Access Granted: Cosmic Chat Group]
[Description: A cross‑dimensional communication nexus for divine entities.]
[Please choose a unique identifier to register your divinity within the network.]
Aston blinked, stunned. "A chat group… for gods?"
Before he could ponder further, another notification appeared:
[System Message]
[You have joined the Cosmic Chat Group.]
[Your Rank: ??]
[Description: Cosmic Chat Group members are ranked from 1 to 9, indicating authority and divine level.]
[Note: Rank determines authority, privileges, and visibility of other members' actions.]
Another line appeared, simple but heavy with meaning:
[You may now choose your unique identifier to register among the members. Name carefully; it will be visible to all other ranks.]
Aston paused, thinking. A name. Something that could stand out, something that felt… him.
He smiled faintly. He had read enough novels, scoured enough forums, and spent enough nights as an otaku dreaming of worlds beyond worlds. He knew exactly what he wanted.
"Stratos Cosminus," he whispered.
Stratos, from the layers of Earth's atmosphere — a nod to his love of biology and the sky above. Cosminus, a creation of his own, derived from cosmic, the infinitude of space. Together, it sounded grand, vast, and undeniably unique.
As Aston typed in his chosen name — Stratos Cosminus — the golden glow of the interface pulsed violently, brighter than before. Lines of light spun around him, and for a heartbeat, the room felt impossibly vast, stretching into infinity.
Then, a new system notification appeared:
[System Message]
[Unique authority as the Bearer of the Divine Wheel detected.]
[Cosmic Chat Group Rank Override: Highest rank Granted.]
[New Rank: 9 .]
Aston froze, staring at the words.
Rank 9. That's The same as a Monarch God.!
He had just joined the Cosmic Chat Group… and without anyone noticing, without permission or announcement, he had been elevated to the top of the hierarchy simply by being the Bearer of the Divine Wheel.
Aston's pulse quickened. His eyes widened as he realized the implication: he could move through the network silently, unseen by other gods, observing, learning, and acting without interference.
He exhaled slowly, letting the enormity of it sink in. His body thrummed with divine energy, completely healed and stronger than ever, a perfect vessel for the Lesser God he had become… and yet, now he was, in cosmic authority, beyond even that — a Monarch God in rank.
He scrolled slowly, curiosity burning. Are there any others at Rank 9?
His pulse quickened. His eyes scanned every title, every symbol, every golden node.
Nothing.
No Rank 9. No Monarch God besides himself.
Aston's lips curled into a faint, incredulous smile.
"None… I'm truly alone at the top," he muttered.
The realization hit him in a rush. No one could challenge him directly in this group!. No one could even see him unless he revealed himself. He was not just a god among gods — he was the apex in the cosmic hierarchy...
For the first time since awakening, Stratos Cosminus — felt the intoxicating thrill of absolute potential.
...
The Cosmic Chat Group stretched endlessly, an infinite network of lights and names. Stratos Cosminus watched silently as conversations buzzed across the factions.
The chat was divided into three overarching factions:
Dark ,Light ,Neutral .
In the Light faction, Lesser and Virtual Gods debated the results of the recent mortal Awakenings:
[Lesser God of Harvests] (Light): "The Northern Planets the Awakening Ceremony finished yesterday. Only twelve Billion candidates succeeded. Their prayers were almost pathetic."
[Virtual God of Wisdom] (Light): "Pathetic? They were persistent, at least. Some showed remarkable devotion. The boy from the outer village — his soul carried traces of unusual endurance."
[Lesser God of Light] (Light): "Endurance doesn't impress me. Their prayers barely scratched the surface. I barely noticed their requests."
Meanwhile, in the Dark faction, chatter was more sardonic:
[Virtual God of Shadows] (Dark): "Heh. The mortals don't know what they're asking for. They beg, grovel, and yet they awaken nothing of significance. Still, amusing to watch."
[Lesser God of Hunger] (Dark): "I harvested three million souls yesterday. Each one prayed to me, thinking I would grant them more than scraps. Foolish children."
Across the Neutral faction, the tone was distant, analytical:
[Lesser God of Balance] (Neutral): "Awakenings have concluded across twenty-seven billion worlds this cycle. Approximately 18% succeeded. Most mortals fail to meet the divine threshold despite fervent prayers.
[Virtual God of Secrets] (Neutral): "Fervent or not, they are predictable. Those who succeed will leave footprints others can follow. Inevitably, they will challenge the hierarchy in some form."
In every faction, gods exchanged messages sparingly — the five-message-per-day limit kept discussions deliberate. Each god's observation carried weight, their assessments of mortals influencing how blessings or trials would be distributed.
Some gods bickered:
[Lesser God of Rain] (Light): "I should have granted the boy in the blue planet a minor blessing. His prayers were earnest!"
[Virtual God of Shadows] (Dark): "Earnest does not equal worthy. You waste your influence on sentiment."
[Lesser God of Harvests] (Light): "Sentiment builds faith. Faith is currency for power. Ignore it at your peril."
Even here, amid billions of divine entities, drama brewed. Alliances formed quietly through subtle acknowledgments; rivalries simmered in sharp words; mortals' fates became the subject of intrigue, competition, and judgment.
Stratos observed the chaotic interplay, fascinated by the ebb and flow of ambition, envy, and calculation. For every mortal who succeeded or failed, there was chatter — debates about who deserved favor, complaints about interference, or arguments over interpreting prayers.
It was a theater of power and vanity, played out across worlds, across dimensions, and across the endless expanse of divine consciousness.
And in the midst of it, the cycle of mortals striving, praying, and awakening continued — a constant source of amusement, frustration, and opportunity for the gods.