'God? If god was real why would so many Hunters have to sacrifice themselves to fight against monsters? If God was real then why would children still have to scream in anguish as they watch their parents be slaughtered right in front of them?
What is the purpose? What is the reason? A divine plan? No, I won't follow it. I believe in and serve no God.'
'I see, you and those you care for have suffered greatly. Unfortunately for the most part, you are right. After the creation of this world, for whatever reason, your original God vanished.
I am unsure if they just abandoned the planet or faded, but have no fear, for I am here now, and I will never leave.
I will bring the hope that once burned like a raging flame back to your lives once more, all the suffering you have been unjustly made to endure will now become your strength.
In tonight's battle you may face your most dangerous hurdle yet and more than just beasts will roam there.
Once you feel yourself starting to doubt, when you you feel that you can go on no longer, and that all hope is lost, look to the last that shines upon you and call out my name.
I am the one who creates,
I am the one who seeks,
I am the one who heals,
I am the one who evolves,
I am the God Of Creation, Balhael!'
As those final words were uttered, the voice inside my head suddenly went silent, no matter how much I inquired about what it meant about a hidden danger in the forest.
'Shit, now we are going inside the forest? I was just planning to have them clear out the clearing at the edge of it, I wasn't planning to go inside... And did that voice seriously just claim to be a god? Does it think that I am stupid?
Many a time have demons tempted humans with sweet words and offers of power beyond our wildest dreams, I know not to touch the golden apple, the price of power always comes with strings attached.'
I frown thinking about what this `God` had told me, before being snapped out of my thoughts by a sudden clap on my back.
"Hey, GM, you seem a bit out of it, you alright?"
I look to my right and see hunter garret, one of our best martial artists, observing me with a trace of friendly concern.
"Ah, it's alright Garret, I'm just a bit worried that we might find more than what we are looking for in tonight's hunt. With the beasts coming so close, it could be a sign that more is at play than we believe their to be.
I don't want to see any of you get hurt if I can help it, and walking into a unknown danger is really troubling."
"Ah, I'm sure it will be alright chief. While having so many mutated beasts crowding around the forest is a bit unusual, it's nothing to worry much about. We are professionals at this point, fighting a few more will not be much trouble for us."
"Yeah, I'm sure you are right."
"Alright everyone, get your stuff sorted and let's move!"
__________
[MC POV]
'Yeah, I decided to go with Balhael, which translates as Divine Maker, as my God name. It may be a little on the nose, but I like it, and it sounds cool.'
I look towards the interface floating in front of me, checking to see if it has updated in real time as I hoped it would. I put a lot of work into the features of this system, it's supposed to detect changes, progress, information, and update in real time.
I don't really need anything to detect my skills, abilities, or other such things, I am literally the god of this new world...
'Hmm, that feels like a reference to something, but what?'
'... Eh, I don't care.'
Anyway, I after making the interface, I realised that I could set up automated events, rewards, and rewrite the rules of the world to a certain degree, almost like certain cultivation stories with their Heavenly Dao, or whatever it was called.
It's a nice touch to be honest, I don't want to make na announcement system though, the rewards that people earn through their actions are private. It has nothing to do with other people, and others might covet their gain's, so this acts as a sort of defence system.
That being said, if they tell someone,thats on them. Oh, I should also mention that abilities that allow others to take control of free will have been heavily blocked from ever appearing. I don't put up with such things and have always hated stories that include mind control, or pheromone manipulation.
Absolutely disgusting, no thanks. Not in my world.
Ok, so I don't have enough faith to do anything too big, no ultimate power to save everyone, no sudden arch images, no almighty martial artists.
The most that I can currently do is give everyone the energy that their body's are most suited for.
For example, if a person who practices the way of the sword every day and chooses it as their main profession were to get anything, it would Aura.
Aura can be used perfect sword arts, aura slashes, release immense amount sof Bloodlust, and even strengthens the body the more you progress.
Of course to upgrade your aura you will need to kill take lots of lives, be they monsters or otherwise, as well as practice the best suited sword arts for yourself.
Next you need to form aura rings around your heart, every ring is a new stage of power, but this is also risky as you could end up killing yourself from the backlash if you push too hard and the formation fails.
Another matter is that Aura has many grades which are white, green, yellow, orange, red, purple, and finally black.
Most people will start at White, which is the weakest, if you are especially talented, you could start from a higher grade.
Almost no one will start at orange though, it's basically a statistical impossibility. A one billion to one chance, the requirement threshold is just too high.
Aura will be the first power to be made available for usage, I've set it so that when all events allign that are necessary for it's activation, it will be released globally.
This should be a huge help, especially for those who are always fighting on the front lines, their chances of dying with plummet exponentially.
Though for reference, this is what some people's system will look like:
[< Interface >]
Name: John Doe
Age: 32
Alignment: Neutral-Good
Path: Swordsman
Energy: Aura (Green)
Skills: Cooking lvl-1, Glass Cannon lvl-MAX, Sandy Footwork lvl-2, Slash lvl-3
[< Last - Next >]
Their is more information, but let's stick to what is available for a swordsman for now.
I'm trying to keep it as simplified as possible while giving the maximum information that is necessary to their development, as tracking improvement can actually be pretty motivating.
That being said, people can gain new skills, even if they are mundane, they can also lose skills if they spend too long ignoring them and they degrade.
A swordsman who no longer swings his sword will naturally be able to feel their skills degrading, and the interface will reflect that for them.
Also, this is not a game, there will be no tracking of health points, stamina, mana, or other such numbers.
These realistically can not be tracked appropriately, imagine if the system said you had 40 HP and you were bleeding out, it would make you think that you could continue instead of seeking medical aid, wouldn't it?
Who would take the blame for such thoughts? Me, because the system said they still had a lot left to fight with.
If you are bleeding out, seek help, don't be stupid.
Now, you might be wondering why I didn't make the martial artists get Qi, or Ki to fight with first or at least alongside Aura.
It's a fair question, it doesn't really sound like it could do much to most people, but now I ask you go read a martial arts Manhwa that actually uses such things, then come back and tell me it's just something small.
The amount of nonsense that they can do, just with Qi, is quite frankly astonishing.
And don't get me started on Alchemist and Mages, they are literally broken. If I wanted to bring them into existence it would take a lot of faith, and even then I would need to set restrictions to stop them from accidentally causing the end of the world or accidentally ascending to godhood within a few short years of appearing.
So yes, we will start with Aura and work our way up from there.
That being said, they will eventually be added to the world, I just need time to properly develop it so that they don't become a risk to themselves or anyone else, by accidentally blowing up the planet.
"BALHAEL!"