Archery Week 1 Part 3

John opened his eyes and everything was white. His pain had faded, and as he patted himself down, he felt no lasting marks of injury. He breathed a sigh of relief and looked around for Diana, his earlier panic and pain quickly reforming into indignant anger. She was nowhere to be found. In fact, the white that surrounded him was formless, he stood on nothing and he looked out into an infinite expanse of nothing. The realization jarred him, he had assumed he was back in the Warehouse.

I’m getting real tired of this shit. Everything’s always happening but nothing’s ever explained. I didn’t ask to get thrown into a new world with new rules I don’t understand. I didn’t ask to be a broken overpowered isekai character. Not that having awesome powers isn’t great, I just would like to go a day without being totally blindsided.

Ding!

John sighed and opened up his system notifications with a flick of his thoughts.

Mana Arrow casting cancelled. No mana allocated to spell.

Developer Message success!
The Developer has heard your plea and in light of recent events has granted you a meeting in her office.
Loading Resources…
Scanning Aura…
Loading Textures…
Preparing Vessel…
Loading Chunks…
Establishing Soul Link…
Connecting…

“John Newman. What are you, exactly? Show me.” Diana took hold of John’s head with both hands, her index and middle fingers pressing into his temples. She poured all of her mana into him, subduing his aura and getting to know him on a deep spiritual level. A vision overcame her senses, and his aura flared to life in an explosive display of unlimited potential.

She saw the earth as seen from space, green and blue and brown and white. Her point of view shifted, and the earth was plunged into night. Lights dotted the landscapes, golden stars that were symbols of life and civilization. Her vision shattered like glass, the sharp splintered pieces scattering across the globe. They formed into glowing glass swords, each one a different color. The swords began to clash, and as the weaker swords fell, they were absorbed by the ones who defeated them. A white sword emerged from Italy and clashed with a blue sword from Greece, they were evenly matched and only weakened each other.

The white sword floated into Diana’s hand. There were countless clashes across North America, especially after a golden sword floated over from Europe. Not every clash ended with the stronger sword consuming the weaker one, some merely resulted in both sides splintering into multiple shards that took time to reform into swords. Reformed swords were almost never the same color as their predecessor. Diana’s vision shifted and focused on the midwest region of the United States, as the golden sword clashed with a fiery red sword that had moved in from South America. They were evenly matched, and their battle ended with both sides losing significant power and generating a shower of smaller shards.

One such shard formed into a sword almost immediately, glowing not a single steady color but a swirl of red, blue, green, and yellow. Diana’s vision focused more and more on this shard as it floated aimlessly until, with a flash of green rain code, it chose its Champion and hovered over his head.

“So this is what you are. A Champion.”

Connected.

John blinked and the white expanse he had been standing in melted away to reveal a sleek office. Stainless steel flooring with glass walls, three of the four walls held servers in them. It wasn’t a large room, the only piece of furniture it hosted was a glass desk. The servers in the walls blinked with little lights one by one, from top to bottom, left to right, jumping across the server-less wall to start again. Outside the window John could see the stars and the vast expanse of space. Standing between the window and the desk was a feminine figure made of green rain code. Her exact shape fluctuated, as if she couldn’t decide how to portray herself.

“John, you’re early, I am still coalescing my powers in this form.” Her voice was layered and distorted, a deep electric hum underlining her statements.

“I cannot, in good conscience, keep you in the dark any longer, though. You are my Champion.” The word resonated deep in John’s core, and his aura flashed to life around him brighter than ever before.

“The Gamer. Your innate abilities, your 「Gamer’s Spirit」 and 「Gamer’s Body」, are uniquely attuned to my godly aspects, my

「̴̡̛̤̈́̒̅̿̒̈́͑̌̌̂͘͠͝D̵̤͕̳̰̼̭̪̗̏͐̃̂͌̅͊ę̵͉͈̗̖̪̟͂̍̃̌̈̈́̾̂̌̊̿̐̿̂v̴̨̟̫̘̍̓̇͂͋́͝ę̴̯̈́̂́̅̉̎̅̀̿͆͗̽͝͠͠l̷̛̘̳̪͖̣͌̈͆ớ̸̝͈̫̤̪̠̆̓̂̓̾͋̎̈́͘ͅp̴̨̨͇̝̝̻̞̈́͊̈́̆̾̿̀̔̏̂̇̽͊͠e̷͙͙͗̿̈́͐͑̉̏̅͠r̶̤̫͇̞̪̖̫͙͆̉͛̐̔͋̇̇̈́̓̕͝͝ͅ’̸̳̬̦̱̻̄̓̏̏̓͝s̶̢̢̢̖̣̤̟͉̊̓̀̏͗͌͜ͅͅ ̵̬̬͆͆͊̈̓́͊S̶̨͇̹̖͋͒̾̈́́̌́̒͘p̴͈̯̠͆͛͛̈́́͆̃̐̚͜ͅi̶̢̡̯̯̬͓͚̦̽̔̐͐̓͘ͅř̷̤̥̪̫͕̩͚͎̌̊̈́͗̂̀͐̂̋̋̈́͜í̷̡̤̤̝̰̥̜̥̪̐ͅt̵̨͖̫͓͉̽̄̊͒̐̌͜͜」̵͚̳̎͋͌̑̈́̒͌͌̌̔̀͑

and

「̵̨̨̮̖͔̤̫̫̳̰̦̥̉͜D̸̡̼͇̹̃̒́̈́̉̏̑͆̓̃̑̀͝͝͝e̷̛̠͚͕͍̣̿̅̓͐͐͛͘̕ṿ̶̥̗̉̿͗̑̽̔͐̔́͝ę̴̻͇͓̳͎̠̙̰̪͕̀̽͐̀͂̋̊͌̈́̒͆̍̕͜͝ḻ̴̮͕̻̲̗̰̰̗̓͊͊̌͛̄̔̔̈͑̀̓͒o̴̟̫̰̣̬̯͒͋͜͝p̴̜̝̻̹̪͓̝̝̋͆͊̓͑̏͊͗̿̈́̇͝͝͠ͅe̵̝͉̖͇̱̫̱̳̦̓͑̏̋̒̌̿͘r̸͉̝͈̭̗̋̽̎̀͑̐̊͑͊̇̃͛̑̕͝’̵̛̬̓̐̿͋͆̑̆̑̓͘s̷̛̙̭͇͍̙̤͈̹̖̟͇̗͍̈̇͂̿̀̌͠ ̵͖̣̘̣͓̎͑̐͐͛́̈̾̂͋̈͑̆͝B̷̼̟͚̞̭̣̻̖̼͌̓̓̓̈͌̑́̐͐̈͠ͅo̴̢͓̣̻͉̱̻͚͗̓͌̉̎̃͠d̷̢̢̦̳̠͇͔̪̿́̇́̑͗͗̀͑̆̒͐̋͝͠y̶̢͎̘̼̦͔̟̰̍͒̓̐̅̇͋̒̇͌̽͝」̶͙̭̩̪̞͚̻̉̎̓̉̆.

“Your abilities consume much more mana than your mundane body could ever hope to produce, though, and without my intervention they would never have manifested. Through them, and through me, you have immense if not unlimited potential. I’ve chosen to sponsor you, to nurture your blooming powers, to watch over your progress and guide you to greatness.

“This does not come to you for free, however. As you’ve definitely noticed by now, there are a great many dangers to a Champion. Others are drawn to your aura like moths to a flame, whether they are conscious of it or not. The masses will throng to challenge you, the fabric of the Abyss itself testing your worth of my patronage. Above the masses will be those ancient and wise, who know the pull of a Champion well, and who may want to eradicate you as some pest or nuisance. Above even those will be other Champions, who’ve grown into their full potential and would wish to invoke the ancient rite of

「̵̳͚̽̒̀͊̅͂̀̑̀͛̆̈̄̚͠M̴̧͌͐͌̎̈̋̆̈́̈́̍̓̒ī̵͕͌͌̇̑̔̉̒̒̏̀̄͜͝g̷̛̮̝͇̳̝̝͋̓͋͆̅̽͝h̷̘̫̠͕̞͈̝̥̠̍͗̉́̊̍̽̈̅̀͌̉́̽t̶̨̠͔̘̺̰̠̻̪̻̆͌̒̋̀̏͒̓ͅ」̶̟̟̆̈͐̀͋͒͐͗̈̏̎̑͘͝.

“I only mention this because you’ve already run into another Champion, but you are nowhere near ready to take part in the ancient rite.

“Alongside the many dangers and challenges, I will also task you with quests. You’ve already completed some of them. Some quests will be exclusively for your benefit, some will be exclusively for my benefit, others will benefit us both. I will never task you with an undertaking you cannot complete. Have faith in yourself and the power I’ve awakened in you.”

She paused, allowing John to absorb all the information he was finally receiving. Before he could open his mouth to ask anything, she continued.

“I am The Developer.” The title resonated with the entire room, the servers rattling in their racks and the space suffusing with a deep green light. John felt the light wash over him with a comforting pressure, like a weighted blanket but from all angles.

“I am an aspect of Gaia, the collective spirit of the universe. While other aspects may have inherited her pious and righteous justice, her fascination with the forge, or her burning wrath, I have inherited her passion for coding natural phenomena and rendering the universe as you see it using the World Spirit. Your innate abilities were intricately entwined with mine even before I met you, they were meant to interface directly with the World Spirit Operating System like I do. One day you will, but it will take years of hard work to get there. For now you interface with me, using my Developer’s Spirit Operating System.” She paused, and sighed.

“It is still a work in progress, and it will evolve alongside you. The update scheduled for tomorrow should bring with it many quality of life improvements. Some new systems, a UI redesign, the works. I apologize for not designing the best tutorial, I would have tweaked it as you went through it but I’ve been busy consolidating power. Meetings like this will be a rare occurrence, the fact that we’ve met face to face at all is almost unheard of.”

She didn’t have any facial expressions for John to read, but he started to get the feeling that she was running out of things to say. He didn’t want to interrupt the deity that was quite literally in control of the way he perceived the world, but he felt the need to say something.

“Thank you,” he started, “thank you for awakening my power and supporting me. My life was pretty shitty until you showed up, and ever since you did, I’ve been living this fantastic dream.” John inhaled to continue but his breath caught in his chest as The Developer began to define and solidify.

Her hair was the same vibrant green as her aura and rain code effects, and it was styled half into a bun on the top of her head and half left down to flow just past her shoulders. A black ribbon tied in a bow kept her bun in place. There were mint green shards of glitchy flower petal shaped crystals pinned to the right side of her head, with one stuck in a permanent loop of falling, glitching, and reappearing on the “flower.” Her eyes were the same mint shade of green, framed by bangs and strands of hair allowed to sit in front of her shoulders. Her chest was covered by a grey blazer, though it was very short. It reached just above her waist and just before her elbows, with large mint green crystals on her shoulders. The upper half of the blazer was wide open, revealing the lacy top of her black dress and part of its thin straps. The straps led upwards above what looked like glass replacing her collarbone and neck, extending to the sides under the blazer towards her shoulders and in fine points a little across her face, poking towards her cheekbones. One more large crystal sat between two smaller crystals embedded in the glass section of her chest, slightly blocking the view of glowing circuitry and swirls of energy. The glass section flashed green once then turned an opaque black. Her black dress hugged her curves until it reached her calves, where it flared out slightly. A slit was cut into the dress up her left calf, revealing grey stockings and strappy heels. Her hands were covered by black gloves and she held a long stylus the way old timey classy women would hold a cigarette holder.

John was struck speechless by her appearance. She smiled softly, and a comfortable looking chair manifested in a rain of green code. She sat down behind the glass desk and swiveled away from John, motioning for him to come closer. He stumbled forwards, and another chair manifested to her right. He sat in it and looked out the window with her.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Her voice was no longer distorted and layered over itself, but the electric hum persisted. She didn’t sound as sultry as John imagined she would, though she definitely radiated authority and commanded respect with her tone.

John looked and saw earth from space, its lush greens and deep blues dotted with the white of clouds and snow. “It is,” he replied. “What are those swords about, though?”

“Swords of Damocles. They’re an astral projection of a Champion’s power, though they manifest physically during the rite of

「̵̳͚̽̒̀͊̅͂̀̑̀͛̆̈̄̚͠M̴̧͌͐͌̎̈̋̆̈́̈́̍̓̒ī̵͕͌͌̇̑̔̉̒̒̏̀̄͜͝g̷̛̮̝͇̳̝̝͋̓͋͆̅̽͝h̷̘̫̠͕̞͈̝̥̠̍͗̉́̊̍̽̈̅̀͌̉́̽t̶̨̠͔̘̺̰̠̻̪̻̆͌̒̋̀̏͒̓ͅ」̶̟̟̆̈͐̀͋͒͐͗̈̏̎̑͘͝.

“They serve as a symbol and indicator of the power and bond of a Champion and their deity.”

“There are a lot of Champions.”

“Indeed there are.”

They sat in introspective silence for a time. A long time. The peace of the setting and the comforting presence of The Developer’s aura slowly put John to sleep, without him even noticing, without a prompt to choose how long he slept.