A World in the Palm of my Hands: A LitRPG Apocalypse

“Gods huh…”

Noah looked at the notification in front of him and was speechless. He’d had suspicions about there being actual gods since that’s how those web novels usually went, but it was a whole different story with the proof staring him in the face.

“There are demons after all… So I guess gods were the next logical step.” He paused. “Still… one hundred and forty-four blessing offers.” He just couldn’t believe it. Not to mention that the notification was asking him if he wanted to meet them.

“How do I even pick among THAT many gods?”

“Hmmm… Yes please.”

Then, a flood of information was forced into his brain. Information on the various gods and goddesses that offered their blessings. How there were several factions among the gods, a lot of different pantheons and, most important of all, what they get from him accepting their blessing.

The factions were fairly straightforward and easy to understand. First there were the Idealists. The gods who wanted to make a utopia through their power, but the “utopia” was highly dependent on the specific god. They might see a utopia as the perfect paradise where everyone was happy, or they might see it as a place where only the god himself was happy. So, the factions were further subdivided into the basic good and evil.

The same went for the realists and the independents.

But even the terms good and evil weren’t quite accurate. After all, wars and crusades have been declared in the name of both sides. So, if anything, it was all subjective and up to each person on who to pick.

Then there were the pantheons. Usually made up of gods that came from the same planet, regardless of faction. But despite their differences, there was one thing that the system information said, they all had one collective purpose, to resist the old gods.

The most important question to Noah, though, was ‘what did they get from me?’

He looked at the different blessings and saw that, although they fluctuated in the boons they gave. They were all fairly powerful. With percentage boosts in stats, magic effectiveness, talents, unique skills and whatever else was beyond his imagination.

Noah looked all of them over and just couldn’t believe that they were all giving all that power away for free. “They have to be getting something… right? A little help here system?”

“Damn…”

He scanned through all the information of the gods again and made a decision. “I wish to meet all gods and goddesses of magic. All at the same time.”

His vision darkened for a second, then was blinded by a bright light as he arrived before the various gods in a large hall that kind of looked like his college classroom. Except, he was the only student and there were fifty-five lecturers, all seated in their own fairly opulent thrones.

When he arrived, there was silence. All the gods were staring at him, no, into his very soul. He felt naked and vulnerable being stared at by all those piercing gazes.

AHEM

He awkwardly cleared his throat in a bid to get everyone’s attention. “Hello everybody! I have just one question for all of you.” He put on the most innocent smile he could and asked. “What do you get from me in exchange for your blessing?”

A clamor rose up as he finished his question. He heard several “insolent fool”s, “arrogant idiot”s, “how dare he?”s in the crowd and crossed off the gods that said those words in his mind. And as if the system was reading his mind, those gods he crossed off disappeared from the hall.

“That’s convenient.” He thought. “That’s twenty-five down, another thirty to go.”

He clapped as he called everyone’s attention to him. “Okay guys. Now that they’re gone, we can officially start. Why don’t we start with everyone’s name? My name’s Noah.”

“We know who you are, mortal. We know everything about you.” One goddess said.

“And that’s the issue. I know nothing about you.” Noah replied. “The information that the system gave me was superficial at best. That’s why I want to get to know you.”

“…”

“Hmmm. Okay, how about this? All of you guys and gals give me the elevator pitch about why I should accept your blessing in particular.”

“…”

“Look, guys, I know you’re getting something from me for getting your blessing. I’m not stupid. Soooo…”

One goddess got up from her seat and stepped in front of him. “Very well, mortal. I’ll go first. My name is Aelia and as you know, I am a goddess of magic. One of the first in the universe actually, and to answer your question, in exchange for us granting you power, we get faith for every feat that you do. For example, if in the future you manage to take control of your planet, or if you’re capable enough, multiple planets, we get faith from all living beings on said planets.”

“They don’t have to worship you or sacrifice people or animals or something?”

“We are not demons, young mortal.”

“So that’s a no, then?”

Aelia just stared into Noah’s eyes as if to ask if he was stupid, and then sighed. “Although worship will grant us more faith and we would certainly appreciate if you spread our religion on every planet under your control, it is not a necessity.”

Noah breathed a sigh of relief. He was never the religious type after all, and he didn’t want to be some shady preacher.

“I appreciate your honesty, Aelia. Now, why should I pick you?”

“You mistake the reason for why some of us are here, mortal. Some of us, me in particular, have not much need of the amount of faith a few planets would provide. I just want to help you repel the invaders from your planet. The demon gods have enslaved and turned enough life forms to their side as it is, and we are on the losing side.”

“Wait, wait, wait, so you’re telling me there’s some type of celestial war going on?” Then it clicked in his head. “Riiiiiight, yeah, obviously, with that notification at the start of the apocalypse. The thing about old gods and stuff.”

“Yes, the old gods. We have been at war with them since the beginning of time. Only now that we have the system that we managed to push them back somewhat…”

“It’s not enough, though, is it?”

Aelia sighed. “No, it is not.”

“Hmmm… So what’s the difference between you guys and the old gods?”

“The old gods are just that, old. Old as the universe itself. While we are ascenders, once mortals who reached the peak of power and took up the mantle to try to push back the tyranny of the old gods.” She sighed again, but this time, it was heavier. “We have lost many races to them already and there are only seven races left in this would-be rebellion of ours.”

“But there are so many of you! I alone got one hundred and forty-four blessing offers from different gods!”

“Yes, there are many of us. But because of the old gods’ presence, none of our daos will ever be complete.” Frustration and rage showed on Aelia’s face for a brief second before going back to normal. “For as long as they live, we will never be true gods.”

Noah felt a weight descend upon the area as the rest of the gods in the hall couldn’t quite keep their emotions in check as well as Aelia could. Mana leaked from their bodies to the point that it was visible. Mana stones and what he could only assume were mana crystals of some kind formed in the hall unabated. It was suffocating.

“Well, this is a bit depressing.”

Aelia shook her head and said. “It is what it is. But with the system, we hope to cultivate more gods and emancipate more worlds in the hope that we can one day fight our way out of the old gods’ oppression.”

Noah sighed and went quiet for a few seconds before asking. “So what’s up with that fucktard, Vakgar?”

Suddenly, the hall was inundated with on oppressive aura, much more intense than the one earlier.

“DO. NOT. SPEAK. OF. HIS. NAME.” Aelia emphasized each word as she lost control of her emotions. She caught herself, though, and apologized.

“So… What’s the story there?”

“Betrayal.” She paused and calmed herself. “We have talked long enough. Choose.”

“Okay. So fucktard is a much bigger fucktard than I thought. Got it…” He thought a bit and said. “I choose all of you, of course.” He spread his arms wide.

“Do not be silly, mortal. Your body can only handle one or two greater blessings at most. And that’s only if both gods do not mind sharing the faith.”

Noah grinned at that. “I choose you then. You said so yourself, you do not need the faith. Surely you don’t mind sharing with someone else?”

Aelia stared at Noah and laughed, followed by all the other gods in the hall.

“Quite the greedy mortal we have here, Aelia.” A voice came from behind the goddess as she looked behind her.

“Ah, Eldar, I was wondering when you might decide to step forward.”

Noah gawked at the approaching god. Not because he didn’t expect anyone else to step forward, but because this god had long, pointy ears.

“Are you an elf?” He blurted out.

“Why yes, young mortal, indeed I am. Elves are one of the seven races still in this rebellion, after all.” Eldar said with a smile. “Now, about that blessing. I am willing to share the faith with Aelia here on one condition. You make an elemental mana core made up of at least ten elements.”

“I accept!” Noah already had eight manipulation skills, after all. What was two more? “This is going to be easy.” He thought.

An eerie grin formed on Eldar’s face. “Keep in mind though, the more elements you manage to fuse into the mana core, the better the blessing that you get from me.”

“And me.” Aelia said, also with an eerie grin on her face.

“You heard it, kid, for now you get a lesser blessing from both of us. Work hard and we’ll upgrade them to greater blessings… maybe even more with enough elements.”

“It can’t be that hard, right?” Noah thought as he got a bad feeling.

Eldar briefly made eye contact with Aelia before they both waved their hands in front of him. “To motivate you to get as many elements as possible, here’s what you can get with the lesser version of the blessings.”

 

Noah stared blankly at the two notifications floating in front of him. "Uhhh..." Speechless, he looked suspiciously at the two gods and asked. “Are you sure this is only the lesser version?”

Both gods just grinned at that and nodded.

“Holy shit!”