The screen turned into a holographic monitor, and a small keyboard appeared before him. This was how he could edit it all, either by deleting the existing or by simply adding his own, or even both.
"Shit, cancel!!" David hurriedly canceled the editing page so he wouldn't accidentally change something vital to humanity's existence on Earth.
"Oh my god, I can really edit anything I want; that would probably include concepts, right? Which means omnipotence once a month," David said as his eyes widened in excitement.
There was no other way to define what his ability was; if you could change anything about anything, no matter what it was, then you are definitely omnipotent.
Well, considering that he can only change what already exists and not create from scratch, David concluded that his ability was more like semi-omnipotence.
Like the DC Comics character Lucifer. The guy is capable of manipulating all existing matter in any way he wants, but he couldn't create his own matter. Nonetheless,
David was still excited, which could be evidenced by his periodic short dances as he circled his small apartment. His ability was actually real, and not only that, but he could also truly edit anything. Well, the cost was his lifespan, but he could mitigate that weakness easily.
David celebrated as he danced around his small apartment before realizing something pretty important. What to edit? ... It may sound like a dumb question since the answer should be obvious, but unfortunately, he was in an unpredictable situation, so he had to adapt to fit it.
He could technically grant himself some form of immortality that would help mitigate the cost of an edit, but then again, his tier was still low, and he didn't know the criteria to increase it. Above all, he also didn't know when the event was starting, so if he simply made himself immortal, he would suffer for it later.
Though immortality would be an excellent choice for an apocalyptic event, who was to say that the event would involve things that could kill immortals or some sort of rule that prohibited immortality? It was an obvious and smart move, but he felt that it would be much better if he created something that could not only grant him an increased lifespan but would be accepted basically everywhere. Or you could go anywhere without problems.
"But what if I am not the only one?" David thought he was the only problem with this event.
If there were others that were given gifts as well as in the future, they would eventually butt heads, and David didn't want that. The administrator made the event seem like something that would shatter civilization as we know it, meaning that eventually there would be fights everywhere and someone with any of the OP abilities on the wheel could easily go to the top.
He didn't want to be the only one with abilities, obviously, since that would mean that it would be his sole responsibility to save humanity from extinction, but the possibility of others having powers meant that one day he would have to fight some of them, which meant that he had to choose his edits wisely.
"Back to square one; what to edit?" David asked himself out loud.
The obvious answer was to find something that could give him an infinite lifespan so he could edit as he wanted, but with such an ability, immortality should be one of the easiest things to get. He could directly edit some drug to grant him immortality, edit the air so that each time he breathes in 10 years is added to his lifespan, or create an object that could create something that would grant him immortality.
The means were endless, but David didn't feel right going through that route; there was a chance that the event could begin next month or even tomorrow, so he would only have immortality and no actual way of defending himself. In fact, he didn't know the best route to follow here, just that it wouldn't be something that grants only immortality.
"Considering we are in the digital age, my phone or my computer would make more sense," David deliberated.
On one hand, he had the chance to become the world's most unkillable man, and on the other, he had the chance to possibly create a supremely powerful computer or possibly artificial intelligence that could help him not only figure out immortality but also maybe figure out the best defense against whatever was to come.
Both would be incredibly useful in the long run, but one could grant him immortality and still serve other uses, so David was more inclined to choose the technology route, and it could also help him greatly if the event wasn't going to start anytime soon. He could use it to get rich and use that money to prepare for the event.
Considering all his options, David decided to do the most sensible thing he could think of at this moment. Leave the option to the people on the internet. He could do as he said, and nothing would be wrong, but if he needed the best course of action now, then it was best to let a lot of people decide. After all, it wasn't like the event would take place the next day.
David posted the question, "If given the ability to edit anything you want, be it conceptual, physical, or biological, you can only do it once a month. What would you edit first".
After a bit more explaining, he posted it on every social media platform he knew that had pages for such things. Twitter, Facebook, Quora, Reddit, etc. He posted it everywhere and hoped that the people on the internet would give him a suitable answer by tomorrow.
"That should do it, but just to be sure, I better plan what I want just in case."
David thought as he picked up a paper and pen and began to write down everything he would edit if he was going to follow either route. If he followed his technology route, then what prompts would he put in to achieve maximum effect, and if he was following his biological route, then what abilities and how would he give them to himself?
Hours passed with David just lying around his bed, thinking. Things would have been easier for him if only there were some books out there with such ability as a part of their plot or maybe a movie, but so far, he has found nothing. Either way, he still wrote down nearly three (3) pages worth of things to edit.
Meanwhile, online, many people saw the post; after all, it was a public post and was posted on a platform that supported such content. Many saw it and, clueless of David's situation, immediately began to comment on their ideas.
His writing group thought it was probably for a new book he was working on, so they helped too.
Within a few hours, many of his posts had garnered hundreds of comments. Each person gave his or her reasons to defend their opinion; many others went under those comments to tell the person the flaws in their plans. After all, the internet has been known to love to correct others.
By the morning hours, David had long since slept, but many people in many other countries had yet to sleep, and they still continued to comment. Some went as far as making plans for an entire year. The end point of it all was that David now had a large wealth of ideas to draw from.
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August 4, 2020
11:27 AM
David woke up feeling extremely refreshed. He knew he would surely wake up late, but it didn't matter; he didn't have anywhere to go; it was just him and his apartment. There was also nothing much to do since the plans for today only involved tidying up and then gaming.
"Oh yeah, chores!" he said, then immediately stood up to begin tidying up the small apartment.
He lived alone in his little apartment, so if the house was dirty, it was up to him to do something about it. The apartment in question wasn't actually dirty considering that the majority of the dirt was his laundry, and that would be what he would be doing for a few hours now since he didn't have a washing machine.
Two hours later, the apartment was clean again, his clothes were all washed and spread to dry, and he had finally cleaned up his desk, which included his computer, so he was feeling pretty good about himself.
David smiled as he looked around the tidy apartment before jumping into the bathroom to tidy up in order not to be the only dirty thing in the room.
A few minutes later, he was clothed and ready for the day. Well, the day was already over since now he had to repeat the same procedures he had been going through for the past few weeks. David, without any hesitation, jumped on the bed to continue what he had been doing for the last few days: sleep.
"Hmm, this feels unnatural," David thought, then stood up from the bed and dragged its sheets to rumple it up and soon laid down back.