I stared at the screen in front of me, fingers frozen on the keyboard. The bright neon lights of my cramped apartment flickered against the reflection of my tired eyes. My latest game project sat on the monitor a hollow, uninspired clone of a mobile cash grab.
I hated it.
This wasn't the game I had dreamed of making.
But dreams didn't pay the bills.
I had spent years studying to be a game developer, pouring everything into mastering design, coding, and storytelling. I wanted to create worlds that people could lose themselves in, games that would be more than just entertainment, but experiences that players would cherish, respect, and remember.
I had hoped that one day, my games would make people acknowledge my skill. But the reality was far crueler than my ambitions.
Click. Click. Click.
Start Stream!
My chat lit up immediately.
[User: You look dead inside, bro.]
[User: New update is hype! Let's see what you got.]
[User: You ever gonna finish your own game?]
I smirked, ignoring that last comment.
For the next few hours, I lost myself in the world of the game, raiding dungeons, strategizing with my teammates, and feeling the excitement only gaming could bring me.
Then, without warning, exhaustion hit me like a truck.
My eyelids grew heavy. My reactions slowed. The screen blurred before me.
[User: Yo, you good?]
[User: Bro, why are you just standing there?]
[User: Is he lagging or something?]
[User: No way he fell asleep on stream, right? LOL]
Ding!
A notification popped up.
[Respawn in 10… 9… 8…]
And before I could process what was happening, darkness swallowed me whole.
[Loading…]
A sharp, pounding pain exploded in my skull.
I groaned, clutching my head as a wave of nausea washed over me. My body felt... strange.
I forced my eyes open.
Instead of my dimly lit apartment, I found myself lying on an expanse of soft, white grass. Above me stretched an endless sky, untouched by pollution, clearer than anything I had ever seen. Swirling galaxies, distant nebulae, and countless stars shone brilliantly, painting the heavens in breathtaking detail.
Before I could even begin to process my surroundings, another force slammed into my mind.
Memories…
Not mine.
A surge of thoughts, emotions, and experiences flooded my consciousness, memories of someone else, someone Ancient!
I was remembering a life I had never lived.
A god.
No...
A child by divine standards, one who had existed for nearly a thousand years yet was still considered nothing more than a fledgling among the deities.
The knowledge came unbidden. The rules of the divine realm, the expectations, the hierarchy.
gods were born into power. Faith gave them strength. Divinity was absolute.
And yet, despite all that…
My head throbbed violently. The flood of information was relentless, an unfiltered torrent of memories, sensations, and knowledge far beyond human comprehension. It was too much.
My vision darkened. My body gave out.
Once I woke up, I tried to make sense of the overwhelming flood of memories and information that had been forced into my mind.
The name of this body... the god I had transmigrated into…
Karma.
Karma Zilch.
I took a deep breath, steadying myself. Whoever this god was, I was him now. And in this world of divine beings, I had no choice but to survive.
In the memories I had gained, I was in a place called the Divine Realm, the birthplace of all gods. Here, gods weren't simply worshipped, they were measured, judged by their power, their domains, and the believers who granted them strength.
gods are ranked by six stages of divinity called the Divine Hierarchy.
⟪ Divine Hierarchy ⟫
➤ Awakened (Tier 1 - 9)
➤ Ascended (Tier 1 - 9)
➤ Exalted (Tier 1 - 9)
➤ Sovereign (Tier 1 - 9)
➤ Elder (Tier 1 - 9)
➤ Primordial
Even among the Awakened, I was considered the weakest... no, I wasn't even acknowledged as one.
To be considered an Awakened, a god needed at least a fragment of divinity, a spark of power that defined their very existence. But this body… this Karma Zilch had nothing.
No divinity.No authority.Nothing.
I was an anomaly in a realm where power was everything.
Then, a bell rang clear, resonant, and impossible to ignore. In the memories of Karma Zilch, I knew what it meant. An announcement to gather for all Awakened gods of The Ascendant Hall.
Ilyssa Vaeloria "Threads of Fate" [Exalted – Tier 6]
I stood at the heart of The Ascendant Hall's grand courtyard, my gaze sweeping over the thirty figures before me the chosen Awakened, the only ones deemed worthy of this place.
My golden eyes moved over them. Each bore the mark of potential, a unique divinity that set them apart from the countless lesser beings who would never ascend. Concepts forged into power, divine authorities capable of shaping reality itself.
All but one.
Karma Zilch.
Threads of Fate intertwined with all things, yet whenever I looked at him, there was nothing. No future, no past. As if the very fabric of fate refused to acknowledge his existence.
I raised a single hand.
The time has come. The Ascension Trial has been decided. In one week, all Awakened will be sent to a world ascending from a Minor World to an Ascended World. There, you will fight for the faith of billions. Prove your worth. Prove your divinity. Or be forgotten.
-----------------------------------------------------------
I stood among the Awakened, my heart pounding against my ribs. The words echoed in my mind. Fight for the faith of billions, I had one week... One week to figure out how the hell I was supposed to survive.
I did everything I could in the time I had.
I buried myself in the library, pouring over every book I could find about Ascended Worlds, divinity, faith, and how to harness it.
The school granted each of us 100 Faith every year, for ten years in The Ascendant Hall.
1000 Faith.
For others, it was a resource, a means to refine their control over divinity, to experiment, to grow. They could wield it, shape it, and practice their divine authority with every passing year.
But me?
I had all that Faith, yet I couldn't use a single bit of it.
Even after an entire week of study, of searching for answers, of trying everything I could think of… nothing changed.
And then, the week was over.
The trial was about to begin.
On the day of the trial, we were gathered once more, this time to receive the full details of what lay ahead. We were each given our own temple, a sanctum from which we could oversee our descent into the world. Within it, we found the coordinates of the Ascended World where our trial would take place, along with the supplies we needed food, water, and basic necessities.
Despite being gods, we still had mortal limitations. We still needed to eat, drink, and sleep, even if only once a month.
As I followed the instructions on how to descend into the Test World, my divine consciousness suddenly lurched free from my body.
I floated in the vast emptiness of space, weightless, untethered until, in the very next second, as if by magic, I was already there.
Suspended above the planet, staring down at the world where my trial would begin.
A screen flickered into existence before me, its glowing text searing itself into my vision.
⟪ SYSTEM BOOTING… ⟫
⟪ SCANNING ENVIRONMENT… ⟫
⟪ WORLD STATUS: ASCENDED (NO MAJOR GOD DETECTED) ⟫
⟪ SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS MET ⟫
⟪ INITIALIZING: GAME DEVELOPER SYSTEM ⟫
My breath caught.
What…?