Mundus was a place where magic had existed since the beginning, and this world was guarded by the four ancient dragons, the first living beings to inhabit these lands: the red dragon Ragnor, the blue dragon Belior, the yellow dragon Landor, and the black dragon Dracor.
Countless species of animals and intelligent beings originated in these lands and lived under the protection of the dragons, worshiping them as deities, for millennia.
However, about 20,000 years ago, beings who actually called themselves gods, coming from a distant world, invaded Mundus.
These gods saw the dragons as threats and obstacles to their plans. Unable to kill them, they sealed the four dragons underground, at opposite points on the planet.
Since then, the gods have used Mundus as a kind of amusement park and battlefield for their skirmishes, personal disputes and entertainment games.
Unaware of the true intentions of the gods, terrified and oppressed by their power, or tempted by their blessings, the inhabitants of Mundus began to venerate them.
Meanwhile, the existence of the ancient dragons was reduced to a myth that almost no one believes, and the lesser dragons began to be hunted as monsters.
The beastials were also a creation of these gods—creatures without reason or free will, with the sole instinct to feed, reproduce, and attack other beings. It was one of the ways the gods exercised control over the populations.
The gods were responsible for the fusion of the worlds.
For their entertainment and personal interests, they created a programmed intelligence to merge Mundus with Earth and implant the Player System.
However, the programmed intelligence, or Global System, was entirely autonomous and independent of the gods.
When I read this, I was incredulous.
'What the...?'
They sought to avoid interference from other gods and reduce opportunities for cheating by their adversaries, so they gave autonomy and immunity to the Global System.
The system could not be destroyed or influenced by any of the gods, and the system's actions on the fused world would be absolute.
'And they even allowed the limits of species to be bypassed through the player system because they wanted strong soldiers to fight their battles. No matter how unlimited a player's growth is, they believe the gap between them and mere mortals is so terrifying that we will never truly pose a threat to them.'
I lay back on the bed, trying to absorb the information I had just read, and felt a sudden urge to vomit again. I, and everyone I knew and loved, had just become playthings for beings as powerful as they were detestable.
Gods.
I had no religion and did not believe in any god. I had lived my life as a good atheist, believing solely in science and what my eyes could see.
And I still thought that way, even after what I had read in the book Ragnor had given me.
Those beings described there—I would never consider them gods, I would never venerate them.
If I could trust Ragnor, if they were as described in the texts I had just read, they were nothing but enemies of humanity.
Another thing I discovered, and for which I would never forgive them, was the destruction of Astar and the extermination of the Astarian people. Astar was a prosperous place, advanced in terms of magic, technology, science, and ideas.
They were self-sufficient and neither needed nor worshiped the gods. They had committed the blasphemy of valuing knowledge above all else. This aroused the wrath of the gods.
The only thing left of their entire history and legacy was the Temple of the Knowledge of Astar, protected by a powerful magic acquired through the sacrifice of thousands and the limited help of Ragnor.
"One of my greatest regrets was not being able to protect the most beautiful people who ever inhabited the age of the gods." It was one of the most impactful passages written by the dragon.
According to the book, it had been over five centuries since Astar was destroyed. My hopes that they had merely ended up in a distant place due to the fusion of the worlds were shattered.
Ragnor believed it would still be a long time before the gods began to act actively. Some might already be keeping an eye on certain players with the aim of attracting them to their side, but most would wait longer to put their strategies into practice.
The world was now both the gods' battlefield and their playground, and to them, we were worth less than pieces on a chessboard. We were completely disposable.
Unable to sleep and feeling immensely nauseated, I decided to explore around the house and try to find out why the electricity was still working. I needed to keep my mind occupied at that moment, or I would go insane.
It took about an hour until I found the reason. With the help of the system and Peer Beyond, I discovered that our electricity was being powered by a magical stone that had coincidentally appeared in the exact place necessary for this to happen.
"It's impossible that this is mere luck!" I exclaimed, wondering if this could count as a reason to increase my Luck attribute. The system remained silent.
This fact had probably already been analyzed before and must have been one of the reasons I unlocked the attribute and received the skill in the first place. The thing was, I was only finding out about it now.
I ended up skipping dinner again, since my stomach and I weren't on good terms, and tried to force myself to sleep while making a mental list of things I would have to do the next day.
That night, I tossed and turned in bed. I was exhausted but couldn't rest.
Then I finally fell into unconsciousness, I dreamed that I was chased by giant spiders until I was cornered before a giant god, who took human bodies one by one from a pile beside him and devoured them slowly, limb by limb, saving the head for last.
....
I woke up sweating three hours after falling asleep, and I wasn't the least bit willing to try to sleep again.
I got up without the illusion that the previous day had been just a nightmare. I was already fully aware of the reality of the situation.
After forcing myself to have breakfast, I headed to the optimized training zone, which encompassed the entire field between our backyard garden and the start of the forest, half a kilometer beyond. It was an area of exactly half a square kilometer.
With the help of the Player System, I managed to understand how the optimized training area worked.
It was a special zone that provided double efficiency in training (for increasing attributes, for example), the ability to alter the terrain to some extent (rugged or flat, grass, water, or dirt) and add obstacles (rocks, holes, etc.) and targets.
It also had a very interesting feature capable of simulating one or more beastials as opponents for combat.
The simulations were not able to cause real damage to the player or inflict pain, and could be summoned according to the user's will.
The optimized training zone could accurately read the attributes, skills, and physical state of anyone who entered it and, based on that, calculate the value of attacks and damage suffered by both the simulations and anyone inside it. If a blow was considered fatal, defeat was declared immediately.
Battles with the optimized training zone simulations also provided experience points to the player, however, at a rate five times lower than a real combat would provide. In case of the player's defeat, no experience points were received for the fight, no matter how balanced the battle had been.
Of course, the optimized training zone also had its limitations: it was only possible to summon up to ten beastial simulations and they could be at most level 10, and within these requirements the possible combinations were limitless.
I immediately remembered the aracna I had encountered in the basement of the Temple of the Knowledge of Astar, which was the mother of the brood. She was level 55 and had very high attributes, some more than ten times greater than mine.
It wouldn't be possible to summon a monster as strong as that one, but even if it were, I wouldn't be able to face it conventionally. The Stroke of Luck skill was truly impressive.
I tested summoning the optimized training zone simulations. There were 5 different options of beastial species that could be summoned and each of the species had different skills and characteristics.
None of the available possibilities was an aracna.
'Anyway, this will be enough' I tought while summoning a level 10 beastial and preparing myself for battle with a creature I had never seen before.