Might of Players

---Viktor's POV---

The system panel displayed a bunch of garbled text before my eyes.

Sometimes the universe has a sick sense of humor, I thought, squinting at the incomprehensible characters floating before me.

It was explained that the system panel generated by divine traits still couldn't fully parse this item.

An item that even gods couldn't investigate clearly? And yet, such a thing existed on my person?

I immediately touched the text on the panel and obtained more information about it. This special item had apparently existed in my inner sanctum sea for 682 years.

How did I not know? And the number was far too specific.

682 years.

It was exactly the number of years since I had transmigrated to the continent of Aeltia! This thing had been with me ever since I transmigrated?

Of course. Of course it would be there the whole time. Because why make anything simple when you can make it absolutely infuriating?

"Could it be..." A bold idea surfaced in my mind.

I urgently clicked on the panel, successfully locating the special item. Before long, under the panel's guidance, I arrived at another part of my inner sanctum.

Suspended in midair, a faint blue light orb glowed softly in the inner sanctum. The orb was about the same size as the God of Creativity's divine essence that I had casually brought along.

Both were just small enough to hold in one hand.

However...

The divine essence was a faint golden light sphere, a solid object that looked like a plush toy. The blue light orb, on the other hand, had a paler, shifting color, flickering on and off, resembling a spherical vortex.

Looking at this light orb I had never noticed before in my inner sanctum, my heart, which should have turned to ash hundreds of years ago, pounded uncontrollably.

Please don't be spam. Please don't be spam. Please don't be—

I extended my mental tendrils. Touch. Penetrate!

A faint "click" echoed from somewhere unseen, and the thin membrane covering the blue light orb disappeared.

The next moment, a torrent of chaotic information flooded my mind.

---

#Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Split Rumors Explode#

#Wednesday Season 3 Announcement When?#

#Wall Street in Chaos: Tech Layoffs Hit Record High#

#Netherworld Revolution - Most Anticipated VR Game of the Year#

#ROSÉ & Bruno Mars Take Over Global Charts with APT#

---

Earth!

This light orb was actually connected to the internet of Earth!

682 years, Earth, and combined with my identity as a transmigrator... It was a cheat ability.

It was the cheat ability I had dreamed of for hundreds of years!

My heart suddenly welled up with an indescribable bitterness. So the damn transmigration god hadn't forgotten my cheat ability after all.

The "plug-in" had been on me the entire time. It was just that for the past 682 years, I hadn't discovered it.

One moment I had been cursing the divine traits for being so useless. The next moment, I suddenly felt they weren't so bad after all. Or rather—this cheat ability might have been prepared for me after becoming a god.

Thinking this, my feelings became immensely complicated.

"Even my cheat ability requires me to unlock it by becoming a god? So I really have no choice but to ascend?"

Recalling my 600 years of resisting godhood, my excitement about finding the cheat ability slightly waned.

Was there anything more dramatic than this?

The glowing orb, though unaware of what I had seen in the blue light orb, perked up at the word "god," sensing an opportunity.

"This could be a sign!" it exclaimed eagerly. "The timing is perfect for your ascension to godhood!"

"Perfect timing? Like how you tried to possess me when I was half-dead?"

"That was... unfortunate timing. But think of the possibilities!"

"Oh, I am. Just not the ones you're selling."

"If you want to become a god, I can help you!"

It had adjusted its mindset. Although its life was indeed in my hands, it probably sensed I didn't want to erase its consciousness.

The glowing orb raised its nearly invisible tiny hands and patted its chest.

"I have the knowledge of gods. The secrets of divine ascension!" it proclaimed smugly.

"Fascinating. Tell me more about these secrets you barely remember from a god who's been dead for centuries."

"When I awakened, I inherited part of the God of Creativity Aeceus' memories, including the method to train new gods."

The glowing orb was secretly smug.

After leaving the land of the gods to find a successor for the God of Creativity, it had learned about undead beings. Undead were hunted on Aeltia, and surely I, pursued by the church, must have been lonely for hundreds of years, not even having a rat to talk to.

It could definitely endure humiliation, acting as my tool and pet. And later, it would find a chance to break the contract and regain its freedom!

The glowing orb's mental calculations clicked loudly, and its expression gave everything away.

I saw through it in one glance. Disdainfully, I held the orb farther away.

"Why would I bother becoming a god? I've already got my cheat ability. Why do something so troublesome and thankless?"

The glowing orb froze. Becoming a god was the lifelong pursuit of most magicians. Yet I called it troublesome and thankless?

My attention was completely drawn to the blue light orb. I hadn't been online for 682 years. Now even seeing a sow queuing for water would seem entertaining...

Ah, the nostalgic 21st-century Earth—

The glowing orb? Becoming a god? What was that nonsense?

Seeing that the glowing orb wasn't giving up, I dismissed it casually.

"Faith power isn't that bad!" the orb protested. "That's just the prejudice of black magicians! Faith power is a gift! A divine blessing!"

"A divine blessing that turned every god into a puppet of their followers' beliefs? Some gift." My eyes gleamed with mockery.

"Faith power isn't problematic? Then you inherited very little from your old master's memories. Tell me, if faith power is so harmless, why are all the gods on Aeltia dead?"

The glowing orb's unseen eyes widened in shock.

"All the gods are... dead? That's impossible!"

"Impossible is a strong word for someone who just learned they exist."

"But the divine realm—"

"Is as dead as its former residents. Funny how that worked out."

"But... but how is this possible?" the orb stammered. "When I awakened in the land of the gods, it was empty, silent. I thought... I thought it had always been that way!"

"Surprising, isn't it? This is the mess they left behind." I smirked maliciously.

Mentioning the gods' fall put me in an excellent mood. A pack of rabid dogs chasing me had all suddenly died—how satisfying.

The glowing orb anxiously asked, "What happened during the fall of the gods? What else do you know?"

"I was just there to watch the fun."

Grinding my teeth, I added, "And then I was hunted by the churches for hundreds of years because of it!"

I didn't want to elaborate and quickly fell silent.

In short, faith power was like a poppy flower—appealing but deeply poisonous.

A divine essence that had inherited fragments of the God of Creativity's memories probably knew less about godhood than I did.

If I really followed its advice, my fate would likely involve being consumed by faith power, morphing into Aeceus in appearance, personality, and even thought. Completely becoming the former God of Creativity.

I would have to be insane to do that.

My identity was special, more than even I had fully realized before.

It was possible that I had just reached the step of becoming a god. If someone woke up through my "shell," they might turn into some resurrected ancient being...

Hm... years of avoiding godhood, and now I'm practically a divine AirBnB.

The light sphere fell silent, immersed in the shock of the god's fall I guess?

I continued studying the blue light sphere. 

After finally encountering a divine essence that I could use without becoming a god and discovering my own cheat ability, I, of course, intended to take full advantage of it!

An Earth network, a God of Creativity's divine essence... Was there a way to connect them? I just had a brilliant idea!

On the Earth network, I was only logged in as a visitor. And the blue light sphere was nothing but a network interface. Other than viewing, nothing could be extracted from the network, as though it was only good for killing time.

Moreover, the God of Creativity's divine essence wasn't recognized by the world's laws as a real god. It only possessed the most basic divine characteristics. For instance, it could disguise itself as various shells, such as flight, birds, fish, insects, systems, and so forth.

But it could only disguise an outer shell, without corresponding functionalities.

For example, being able to understand one's own status, serving as a body detection device. Or creating godly avatars...

Wait, godly avatars!

I suddenly thought of something and opened the trending search list that I had seen in the blue light sphere earlier. My gaze froze on the top-ranked entry, marked "hot."

#Netherworld Revolution - Most Anticipated VR Game of the Year#

"A virtual reality game... I've got it!" My eyes lit up.

"I may not become a god, but I can make something else become a god and indirectly enjoy the other functionalities of a divine essence!"

Why become a god when you can make one instead?

I would make the game into a god!

The light sphere was dumbfounded. "Huh? What did you say?"

The sudden shift in my attitude seemed to confuse it.

The ghostly blue flames in my eye sockets burned brightly. "I said, I'm going to create a god."

The blue light sphere could indeed only be used temporarily to access the Earth network. But it didn't entirely reject my input of magic. Through experimentation, after probing it with magic for ten minutes, surprisingly, one-thousandth of the magic succeeded in entering the Earth network.

Although the amount of magic was tiny. At best, I, who could initially only log in with one visitor account, could now log in with two visitor accounts.

But this was a sign of progress.

The space required for this little bit of magic was equivalent to the consciousness projection of an ordinary person who had never practiced magic.

In other words, as long as I prepared a container for consciousness projection in Aeltia, I could pull my fellow Earth compatriots over.

If I disguised Aeltia as a virtual reality game, I could even dangle quests to make them help me. If the game turned out well, the Earth compatriots' love for the game could even transform into faith power to nourish my divine essence.

And the best part? Their gaming addiction becomes my divine power. Talk about a win-win.

"Isn't this the legendary 'tracing back through the network cables'?" I felt a surge of excitement and no longer noticed the pain from my injuries.

I calculated the various spells I had learned over my 600 years on Aeltia. After tallying it up, I realized I had just enough to complete the monumental task of disguising another world as a game.

I guided magic to continuously strike the blue light sphere, deepening the connection between the two worlds. At the same time, I opened the interface again. Although I had a clear plan for the future, I still had to focus on the present.

Right now, I was just an undead who had suffered backlash from forbidden magic and was still teetering on the brink of death.

I needed to check if the light sphere had anything that could help me. There should be some authority related to healing in the God of Creativity's divine essence, right?

---

[Name: Viktor von Vinesse]

[Race: Undead]

[Level: 21 (Intermediate Magician) / 159 (Demigod)]

[Skills: Divine Insight, Shapeshifter, Multiple Avatars (0/10)]

[Authority: Life Revival, Life Purification]

[Divine Power: 99]

[Followers: None]

[Special Items: Int??dim??Net??Spirit??, Divine Contract (Reversed)]

[Status: Severely Injured, Bone Fractures, Weakness, Frostbite, Burns, Poisoning, Inner Sanctum Collapse, ...]

[Summary: Dying Undead]

[Survival Time: 3 days, 23 hours, 34 minutes]

---

After not checking for a while, an extra line of data had appeared at the bottom of the interface.

"Huh. Four days survival time? That's practically a vacation."

The name and race didn't need explanation.

The two levels likely reflected my near-death state. The first was the highest level of magic I could currently use. At the moment, I could only cast intermediate spells and was temporarily a weakling unable to leave the Frostwind Plains on my own.

The second was my peak magical level. The backlash from the failed forbidden magic was still constantly damaging my body. It looked like my magic level still had room to drop further.

The three skills in the skill row were all familiar to me, all of them abilities granted by divine characteristics. In my words:

Divine Insight—scanned detailed self-status, acting as a body detection device.

Shapeshifter—used to disguise systems and deceive oneself.

Multiple Avatars—useful when one's brain didn't work well and wanted to play with split personalities.

The avatar ability came from the gods' special form, as they couldn't remain on Aeltia for long and had to spend most of their time in the Divine Realm. To visit the lower realm, they had to borrow a lower-level mortal body as an avatar.

I, who was already on Aeltia, had an Inner Sanctum Collapse debuff in my status row. I couldn't bear the cost of creating avatars at all.

At least, that was what I thought before.

Now, when I looked at the third divine characteristic, my eyes shone as brightly as a 500-watt bulb.

"Player bodies as divine avatars... It's brilliant!"

Why should I waste power creating new avatars when I could just use player consciousness?

Creating godly avatars required tearing off part of the soul or mental power to activate. I could simply throw players' consciousness projections into the avatars before animating them.

The talent of a godly avatar was far superior to a random skeleton picked up off the road. The power I could gain from the players would also be much stronger.

As for the authority row...

[Authority: Life Revival, Life Purification]

My wide grin tightened slightly. I grabbed the dazed golden light sphere next to me.

"Life Revival? Life Purification? Last I checked, creativity had nothing to do with either of those. Why do the authorities you have seem more suited for a God of Life? Nothing about imagination here."

"Uh, uh, this..." The light sphere stammered. "The God of Creativity is dead, and as you know, the relationship between gods and their divine essences..."

"Let me guess—another convenient detail you forgot to mention?"

Whether it was the lowest goblin or the magic-favored dragon, the highest level achievable through personal training was demigod. To break through further and truly become a god, one had to master part of the world's laws, known as "authorities."

The materialization of authority was the divine essence.

With the appearance of a divine essence, a god was born; when a god died, their divine essence shattered.

The unfinished words of the light sphere left the truth hanging in the air: the God of Creativity's authority had died with him.

But wait... if Aeceus' authority is gone, why am I suddenly brimming with ideas? I frowned, examining this contradiction.

Is what I'm experiencing just a shadow of the real thing?

Maybe the actual authority was more like... an active power to enhance and inspire creativity itself, while this remnant only gives passive inspiration? Or... A dry chuckle escaped me. Or maybe these are just my own ideas, and I'm giving a dead god too much credit.

Thinking too much about divine metaphysics would just give me a headache. I've got four days to live—better focus on what works rather than why it works.