World Keeper: Birth of a World Read online

  World Keeper

  Volume 1: Birth of the World

  Justin Miller

  Prologue

  Well… where should I start? Introductions, I guess. My name is Dale Mitchell. I’m twenty-eight years old, single, and working as a truck driver for a catering company. Well, that’s what it used to be like anyways. I should probably catch you up on what happened.

  So, guess I can’t put this off anymore. As I was driving back to the company to return the truck after a successful event, I felt myself growing tired. I wasn’t really surprised, mind you. I had been pulling extra hours with my other job, working as a glamorous pizza delivery guy. Naturally, I did a lot of driving.

  Anyways, although I was getting tired, I made sure to stay focused on the road. It wouldn’t be hard to close my eyes for a few minutes once I returned the truck, but I absolutely couldn’t get into a crash. Aside from the heavy fine they’d slap me with, I’d lose my job, maybe even both of them if word got out!

  However, as I was turning the corner, my world came crashing down. It ended not with a bang, or a whisper, but with a rickroll. What? Don’t judge, it’s my cellphone’s ringtone. I fumbled in my pocket trying to quickly fish it out, when suddenly there was a loud scream from outside. Looking up, I saw a balding man with dirty blonde hair, glasses, and a large gut standing in the road, staring with wide eyes as my truck smashed into him. He seemed to be trying to make some gestures with his hands, likely signalling me to stop, but the truck didn’t slow down in time.

  There was a very loud crash, and I watched as his body bounced away, landing against the pavement with a sickening crunch. His neck and one of his legs were twisted the wrong way. By the time the truck had finally stopped, I was gripping the steering wheel hard enough that my fingers were turning white. I stared in shock as I knew, even without getting out to check, that the man was dead.

  I killed him… No matter how you looked at it, I had just killed a man with my truck. Forget just a fine and losing my job, I would even go to jail from this! Beads of sweat were quickly rolling down my face as I panicked, not sure what to do.

  It was at that point I noticed something. Nobody seemed to be moving. Not in a ‘frozen in shock’ kind of way. They were actually not moving at all. Some were paused in mid-step, others with their mouth open in a silent scream, even a bird flying through the sky had stopped in its place.

  Next, the color seemed to be fading away. Blues, reds, the entire world gradually became varying shades of grey. Somehow, I was still able to move, so I lifted my hand up to my face and watched as the color drained from it. Am I dying? Did I have a heart attack or something?

  Next were shapes, which gradually became blurry and indistinct. This one, I was not even immune to, and I felt as though my body were dissolving into water. Looking around, I saw giant buildings swaying before they seemed to explode outwards in messy blobs, which then faded away into nothing.

  Finally, when even the shapes were no more, I was left in a grey landscape. Not a single feature could be made out, not of myself, the man I had just killed, or anything. Even my truck had gone away. Well, I guess I can’t take my truck with me when I go. I began to close my eyes and accept my fate, when a strange light appeared in front of me.

  World Reset finalized. Welcome to the ranks of World Keeper. Please begin designing your new world with which you will participate. For options, simply think ‘Options’

  Uhm… what? Options?

  Options - Additional Options will be available as you progress.

  Body Designer

  System Companion Designer

  World Designer

  Current Statistics

  Since I didn’t have hands, I couldn’t exactly press buttons, so I simply focused on Body Designer.

  Please imagine the body you wish to create for your personal use. This body may be changed at any time through the Options menu.

  Well… that was straightforward enough. I closed my eyes, or tried to before realizing I didn’t have eyelids. Instead, I simply did my best to picture my old body. Okay, so I may have embellished a bit. Wouldn’t you want to fix your receding hairline, or give yourself a bit of extra muscle if you had the chance? Let a guy try to save some self-esteem here. Besides, if this is purgatory, then at least I’m getting a pretty good deal out of it.

  Anyways, after imagining the body, I waited for several seconds, with nothing happening. Then, just as I was about to get up, there was a ding, the blue window changing.

  Body data accepted. Please wait while your new body is constructed.

  At that point, I could only stare as I was built from the ground up, literally. The grey light making up this world seemed to gather at my feet, and I actually had feet now! Then it started moving up, revealing legs, hips, my chest, everything. In a matter of only a few moments, my entire body had been created. To test it out, I blinked a few times, and I could manage to close my eyes.

  Okay… that’s cool… but now what? I looked at the options again, and decided to try out the System Companion thing. Maybe whatever that was would give me some clues on what I could do here?

  Please choose an option below.

  -Custom Companion: For experienced Keepers who just want an extra companion to keep them company. Allows a modifiable body and mind, but does not contain system knowledge.

  -Default Companion: Recommended for new Keepers, contains extensive system knowledge, and allows a modifiable body. Mind is randomized, but can be altered through natural growth.

  Well, that’s not really a choice at all, is it? I asked myself, immediately choosing the Default Companion option. I mean, I have no idea what I’m doing. Even if this is purgatory, that doesn’t mean I just want to sit around and do nothing for thousands of years when there is what seems to be some kind of game available.

  Input accepted. Please visualize a body for the companion.

  Hmm… This one took me a while to decide. I mean, obviously I want a girl, alright? Wouldn’t you want to spend an eternity with a beautiful woman? What, you think I should be more upset that I died, that I’ll never see my loved ones again? Sorry, but my parents died a long time ago. And if I had a girlfriend or anything like that, why do you think I would be working two minimum wage jobs instead of aiming for something higher? If anything, dying means I don’t have to go to jail for vehicular manslaughter, and I don’t have to listen to my bosses nag at me.

  Wait, getting sidetracked. Closing my eyes, I began working on my ideal woman. It never said it had to be a human woman, right? I pictured a five foot ten woman, with abundant breasts, nice curves, and cute cat ears. Of course, I included the tail to go with it. Her hair was red, matching the color of her ears and tail, and her eyes were green. Hopefully, she didn’t have a bad personality.

  Body data accepted. Mind profile determined. Please wait while the companion is constructed.

  Again, I watched the grey light come together, and it gradually formed into the shape I had imagined. Just like with myself, it worked from the ground up. And… just like myself, clothes were not part of the deal. I was not complaining, nor was my lower half, which was standing proudly once the body was finished. A moment later, her green eyes opened, and she smiled at me.

  “Hello, Master!” She spoke while bowing, which only served to give me an even better view. “Do you have a name for me?”

  Okay… I am man enough to admit that I was stunned for a long moment before I responded. “Uhmm… Terra? Does that work?”

  Her smile grew wider, and she nodded her head energetically. “Thank you, it works perfectly!” She stood up and gave a small jump in excitement. Oh yes… I definitely hit the jackpot with this kind of afterlife. />
  And that was how I became a god. I think, anyways.

  Chapter 1

  Looking at the beautiful catgirl I had created, I did my best to suppress the drool that was subconsciously released. Business first, fun later! Lots and lots of fun later! “So, Terra, what can you tell me about all of this? The option said you would have the information…?” Right, Dale, get your head together, gotta figure out the rules first. Don’t want to do anything that would end this heavenly afterlife early.

  “Hmm? Oh, you mean the World Keepers, Master?” She looked to me inquisitively.

  “Err, right. But just call me Dale, okay?” While being called Master was certainly appealing in its own way, it was way too distracting!

  “Uh, alright Dale! And I have all of the necessary information that the system deemed important, as well as archived files regarding the last three iterations of Planet Earth.” Terra said with a broad smile.

  Huh, what was that? “Wait, last three?”

  “That’s right! Every time the Keeper is killed, the killer will inherit his position. Since each world is bound to a Keeper, the loss of the keeper means the end of that instance.” She then furrowed her brows slightly. “The records show that you killed the last Keeper, due to a car accident, so you are Earth’s new Keeper.”

  Ahh… so that’s what happened. Wait, what?! “You mean to tell me that because I hit some random guy with my truck, the entire world ended?!” You’ve got to be kidding me!

  “That’s right, Dale! Uh, is everything okay? Wah, don’t be depressed!” Terra rushed over to me when I crouched down on the floor, patting me on the back. “The last Keeper’s companion noted him as a ‘lazy otaku, better off dead’, so don’t blame yourself too much, okay!?”

  Somehow… I feel sorry for the last Keeper all of a sudden… he probably didn’t luck out as well as I did when it came to companion personalities. Still, the whole world, just gone. All because of one insignificant car accident. What would happen if a Keeper had a heart attack then, or killed himself? Would it just go to some random person, or would the world truly be destroyed?

  “Dale? Dale! If you keep this up, I’ll get angry, okay!?” Terra was still trying to console me, and I looked up to see her worried expression.

  “I...I’ll be fine. Go ahead with the explanations, please.” Distractions are good right now, and Terra was definitely the best distraction.

  “Uhm, okay? Well, I guess I should start with the abilities and duties of a Keeper. Keepers create and oversee a world of their design, and guide it to prosperity. Once a world reaches a proper level of power, it is entered in the World Keeper games. In these games, you send your forces to fight against other worlds, or defend against such invasions yourself. The goal of the attacking team is to defeat the supreme existence of the other world, the Keeper.”

  “If a Keeper dies during the game, any worlds they control are given to the Keeper managing the winning army, and they are able to bolster their forces by creating and managing these new worlds. During the invasion, a Keeper is forced to descend, and can only use the powers or technologies which exist within the world. For instance, the last instance of Earth had the potential for instant-disintegration weapons. However, the technology level had not reached the required amount yet. So, if the world was invaded, the Keeper would not have access to that technology.”

  I felt my brows knit together as I tried to absorb this new information. “But, I don’t remember anything in history that would suggest Earth being invaded before.”

  It was at that point that Terra frowned again. “No, Earth hadn’t reached the level to be part of the World Keeper games yet. The previous Keeper only advanced the world enough to provide his own entertainment, and then chose to live life on the surface. At the rate that Earth was going, the previous companion estimated it would take another hundred years before the first invasion.”

  “Ahh… I see.” I nodded my head marginally at that.

  “Now, as long as you are in the Administration Room, which is where you reside by default, you are functionally immortal. You will neither age nor get sick, and nothing will be capable of hurting you. However, once you descend, your body becomes more normal. While you still cannot age, you can be killed normally by other means.” Terra explained calmly, sitting down cross-legged in front of me and assuming an almost teacher-like attitude.

  “In the Administration Room, you can change almost any aspects of your worlds, as long as you can afford the points to do so. You could even entirely reset your world to start from scratch, if you decided that you did not like how it was developing.”

  When she mentioned points, I raised my eyebrows curiously, which she apparently noticed. With a smile, she continued her speech. “Points can be gained through benchmark achievements, or participating in the games. You can also choose to descend to your world and work for points as well. To start with, you have five hundred points to spend to start your world.”

  “What kind of world could I make?” I decided I better find this out early on, otherwise I might be in for an even bigger surprise.

  Hearing my question, Terra grinned broadly. “Theoretically, you could make any kind of world you wanted. The first iteration of Earth was one in which the Keeper tried a random-mutation path. After humans evolved, they began developing random powers. While the Keeper wasn’t able to determine what powers would appear, this was still a valid strategy. After all, when he descended, he would gain all of those powers at once. His record in the game was three successful invasions defended, before a power mutated that killed him. One of the humans was born with the unfortunate ability to be a living bomb…”

  “The second Earth was created as a futuristic one, complete with space travel and alien civilizations. Although the Keeper never won an invasion, he was able to create additional worlds thanks to the theme he chose. Sadly, he ran out of points trying to enhance his extra planets, and had to descend to try to earn more. It was at that time that the ship he was on was drawn into a large war, and he was killed.”

  “As for the third, and most recent Earth, you know all about it. The Keeper simply installed additional AI assistants as local deities to manage the world while he waited for the entertainment industry to advance far enough, then spent the rest of his days as a shut-in.” Compared to the first two Keepers, who she seemed to speak about with admiration, she used a much harsher tone for the third.

  “Ah… what about magic?” She didn’t mention anything about a fantasy world in that. Surely, such a thing would be possible, right?

  Terra nodded with a delighted smile. “Of course, magic is possible! You could choose to create a fantasy world fueled by mana, or even a world in which the inhabitants are able to increase their lifespans through martial training. Would you like me to pull up the basic packages for you to look at?”

  I thought about it, and then nodded to accept her proposal. She seemed rather happy that I was over my brief bout of depression, and almost instantly a window appeared describing different options available to me.

  Technological World

  World Size 5 - 40 points

  Technology Affinity- 20 points

  Education - 10 points

  Package - 70 points

  Cultivation World

  World Size 7 - 60 points

  Martial Affinity- 10 points

  Pseudomagic Affinity- 10 points

  Longevity- 30 points

  Package - 110 points

  Fantasy World

  World Size 6 - 50 points

  Magic Affinity- 20 points

  Extra Sapient Races- 30 points

  Package - 100 points

  Mutant World

  World Size 4 - 30 points

  Randomized Mutation - 100 points

  Package - 130 points

  Custom World

  World Size 1 - 0 points

  Package - 0 points

  These packages don’t seem very extensive… I looked suspiciously at Terra, wh
o simply smiled. “Don’t worry, there are way more options to choose from after you pick a starting package. These are just here to help you get started.”

  I nodded slightly, and selected the Fantasy World package. Magic has always fascinated me, and watching a real world evolve with magic would be really cool. Suddenly, the scenery around us changed. No longer were we in a grey landscape, but instead we seemed to be standing miles above the surface of a lush, green planet. Down below, I could faintly make out trees, lakes, and mountains in the distance.

  “Alright, that’s step one!” Terra called out happily, raising her arms in triumph. Must not look at those glorious, bouncing hills. Must focus! “Now, since this package included ‘Extra Sapient Races’, you can design up to ten species to place as the sapient races of this world. Each one starts with base human abilities, which can be increased or lowered to effect their point total. If the total is a positive amount after adjustments, then you will need to pay additional points to finalize the race.”