Hello readers!
Welcome to the God Maker App! Sadly, I have been unable to write more on Newly Ascended due a writer's block. So while trying to my creative juices going, I revisted ideas that had been discarded or never made it into Newly Ascended God. To my surprise I was able to find get my creative juices going for another story.
Please enjoy this work while waiting for Newly Ascended God.
ShirouKuroEmiya
Prologue
"It is commonly accepted by most of the world's historian that Earth forever changed in 1970 due to Aylesbury Valesti Ritual conducted by 27 Dead Apostle Ancestors. The true motives of the Dead Apostle Ancestors will likely be kept a secret at least until the Mage's Association and the Holy Church decides to declassify the matter, but all you need know for this class is that laws governing Earth changed for the first time in nearly two thousand since the Age of Gods passed and entered the Age of Man."
I resisted the urge to yearn as a sign of respect for the teacher giving the lecture, Taiga Fujimura or Fuji-nee as I called her affectionately outside of school. The other students in the class were not as respectful. Many were busy doing other things like using their phones, but at least they pretended to be listening along. A handful of students were outright daydreaming or sleeping.
"As a result of the Aylesbury Valesti Ritual, the Anchors maintaining the human world and the laws of physics was greatly shaken allowing travel between the Reversal Side and our surface world to become easier. This has allowed 'Gates' to appear and Phantasmal Species, which had disappeared with the Age of Gods, have been pushed out from the Reverse Side due to extreme competition over resources and territory."
It wasn't just me but many others in the room ears perked by familiar words that we had heard countless times growing up.
"The 1970s and 1980s, also known as the Monster Years, was one of the most chaotic and bloody years of human history. The carefully crafted cover up that made the world believe magic-"
"Sensei!" shouted Rin, interrupting Taiga. "It's magecraft!"
Many in the room snickered or laughed at Rin's response. I had a strange look while glancing at the offended Rin. It seemed like a minor issue that Taiga had used the word "magic" instead of "magecraft" as Rin insisted, but to many mages it was a very important distinction.
Officially by the standards of the Mage's Association, magic was often used to describe the legendary True Magic. A magical discipline involving things impossible through science and technology like parallel worlds, bringing back the dead, time travel and creating something from nothing.
The mere idea that True Magic be used describe feats that was classified as magecraft lowered the value of what True Magic could do.
"Shirou back me up here!" called Rin to me.
"Rin," I sighed while glancing around to see everyone was looking at me. "Why did you drag me into it…?"
"You're also a mage so it is your duty to protect the name of True Magic."
"I am not a mage. I don't seek to reach the Akashic Records."
"Technically, you're a mage the moment you passed the Association's exams." She corrected me. "And besides," Rin flickered her hair, "you're referring to an outdated concept that the Traditionalists (mages) believe in."
I felt many eyes gazing at me turning hostile or jealous after Rin's words. In response, I glared at Rin. This only didn't seem to affect her as she instead smiled and took pride at the hostile or jealous looks also directed at her way.
The meaning of what it means to be a mage had changed during Monster Years. Being a mage was no longer someone that sought to reach the Akashic Records, well at least by most people except for the conservative Traditionalists. The definition a mage had changed. It was now a title for those that had passed the examinations held the Mages' Association and received a certification similar to medical doctor got their medical license.
"Hey, Tohsaka there is no need to look all smug!"
"Yea, just because you are mage doesn't make you special."
"What's good being a mage when any decent Mystic Code can nullify a mage's advantage in Magic Circuits?"
"You just had the luck of being born with good genetics!"
I didn't know whether or should cry or laugh at the two crossroads I found myself in. One of standards required to qualified as a mage had to do with Magic Circuits. A certain number of Magic Circuits such as a minimum of twenty or total power output of 25 Magical Energy Units was required. I barely passed either Magic Circuit requirements. Hence, I was caught in between the worlds of normal people, or magicians as they liked to call themselves, or mages.
Rin likely considered me a mage, not regarding my current state of my Magic Circuits, but the lost potential that I had been born with. As a descendant of Senji Muramasa, my genetics had great magical potential, not very high by the standards of upper mages but in comparison to the average mage. This lost potential had been the result of being a victim of cursed mud created by Angra Mainyu, the Persian God of Darkness, ten years ago when a Gate suddenly appeared in Fuyuki and spewed out its cursed content.
The class was insulting Rin while the Tohsaka heiress was busy defending herself but that all came to an end when the bell started ringing.
"Tonight's homework is to review pages one to twenty-one of Dawn of New Era by Waver Velvet." Taiga called out as her students started packing up.
I finished backing my belongings and checked my phone.
To my surprise, I found that I had received a text message from Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg. I shook my head in dismay and resisted the urge to laugh. There was absolutely no way that I had gotten a text message from Zelretch. He was the most powerful human alive, able to rival Type Moon, and overwhelm most top-tier monsters and gods that only the greatest monsters and gods could hope to challenge his might. The real Zelretch would never be interested in normal boy such as myself. I would be no different from one of countless ants.
I looked at the text message with interest, wondering which fool was pretending to be Zelretch. Only an idiot would believe in such an old and over-used scram that had become a classic.
[I hope you enjoy this gift, Shirou Emiya. It will be enjoyable to see what you do with it and how different you will become compared to your other counterparts.]
The fact that the fake Zelretch knew my name and phone number didn't alarm me. It didn't take a lot of effort to find my name or phone number. Just about anyone in my school knew about it as I often helped as a handyman. What did concern me was how the linked phone app sent with the message had automatically installed itself without my consent.
The phone app was called "God Maker" and below that in smaller text was "Welcome to God Maker."
I quickly used my limited skills in Spirit Hacking to access my phone to look for any suspicious files or holes in the firewall protecting my phone. It surprised me that I didn't find anything unusual. I started to run my phone's anti-virus and waited. To my surprise, it reported no virus or firewall breaches.
So either the God Maker app was a legitimate phone app without any suspicious coding or its creator had hidden its malicious programming extremely well.
I was also concerned by the fact that I or the antivirus couldn't detect the firewall opening exploited to download God Maker without my permission. As a precaution I disconnected from the school Wifi and cellular system, and I even physically took out small component, the transmitter and receiver, that delivered and accepted data from outside sources.
"Since you can no longer transmit hacked data from my phone, let's see what kind of program you are." I muttered and clicked on the phone app.
The display that greeted me was something akin something out of a video game classic like Mario with the very low polygon graphics and art styles expected from a similar game. On the screen except for the background there was an ant.
A text bubble displaying "No.1" appeared followed by gibberish.
I instinctively felt the urge to press the ant. My index finger clicked on the pixel, expecting the text bubble to change. What happened next instead surprised me for a moment as the ant jumped up, got bigger and spread its legs with crossed eyes similar to how a certain plumber might respond after death.
"Ouch." I grumbled as something hit my forehead.
Looking at one hit my forehead, I heard a quiet thumb as something landed on my desk. I looked down to find an object. My eyes widened as I stared at my desk.
There was no way that a Divine Coin had fallen on my desk! It was a treasure that the Blessed that did everything in their powers to get their hands on. A precious commodity used by the Blessed to enhance their Stats, purchase new Items or receive and upgrade Skills/Spells with the Falna system that connected them to their patron Divine Spirits.
My hands quickly reached over to inspect the coin. It didn't seem fake. I had never touched a Divine Coin or was no expert on the object, but the divine aura emitted didn't seem fake. The divine aura I felt matched the Blessed I had interacted.
[No.1 has been killed. As a reward, 1 Divine Coin was dropped.]
I stared back and forth at the Divine Coin in my hands and my phone screen.
A Divine Coin couldn't have come out my phone, right?! That should be impossible!
After what seemed like an eternity, my confusion started to settle down. No matter how many times I looked at the Divine Coin any my phone, the results were the same. So, I slowly started to accept it.
And instead, I turned to look at the new text appearing on the screen that had caught my attention.
[You are one step closer to becoming a Divine Spirit.]
What do you guys think about what you read? Is it good, bad or meh? Any recommendations to improve? Please let me know.
Thank you for reading!
