《Global Lord: Skeletons And Slimes》


 Cerulean Text Box Of Death

    Sitting at his desk doing his best to be a good office worker, Hal was struck speechless when a cerulean text box popped up in front of his computer screen. At first he thought it was his computer, but when he turned his head slightly the text travelled with his eyes instead of staying fixed on the screen.


    ''What''s this? Is my computer acting up?''


    Calmly Hal paused and read the prompt more carefully.


    [Your planet has been chosen. The apocalypse is here! In six minutes your planet will be destroyed and a newly budding higher plane will be seeded with its remains. As you meet the minimum standard of health you can choose to submit your candidacy for becoming a lord on this new plane of existence. However, lordship is not for everyone. The path of a lord is filled with trials and tribulations. Therefore all have a choice. Become a lord or a servant. Choose wisely!]


    As he read the words on the screen a sickening feeling of dread started in his belly and moved slowly upward putting pressure on his heart. Hal wasn''t the most athletic of individuals and now regretted all the snacks he had been eating lately. His logical brain was warring with him telling him that this was just a prank, but for some reason his feelings were fully in line with what the message was telling him.


    Moving his head to look over to his friend''s cube his dread increase as the cerulean text box continuted to follow his line of sight way past the boundaries of the computer screen. Vaguely transparent it blocked most of his view, only allowing a few details to come through from behind.


    People all over the office were freaking out either becoming hysterical or going catatonic. Clearly this situation was not unique to him alone.


    [You have 30 seconds to choose: Lord or servant. If a selection is not made your choice will be made for you.]


    [Survivability Stats:


    Lord: .01%


    Servant: 30%


    ]


    [26 secs]


    Below the selection screen a timer was counting down in place.


    Sweat popped out on Hal forehead.


    ''The obvious choice seemed to be Lord at first, but now that I can see that only one in ten thousand lords survive, ... . I just don''t know ...''


    Thought Hal while wiping the sweat from his forehead.


    [19 secs]


    ''What do I do? ...''


    This was not a time to be emotional. He had to make the right choice here. Risk it all or play it safe.


    [12 secs]


    ''Calm down, if you want to survive you have to choose servant. You have to!''


    Talking to himself inside his head Hal finally took a sigh of relief. He wasn''t so self consumed that he had to become a Lord. His ego wasn''t that big! It wasn''t necessary. Survival came first.


    Just as he was about to commit a hand landed on his shoulder.


    "Hal, ...., HAL, ... HAL!"


    Startled he looked around a saw his co-worker from across the aisle.


    "What are you going to choose?! I choose servant! Choose lord! Please, please choose lord!! Hurry!"


    She was looking to him for support, several of their male co-workers, lust filling their eyes were gathered around all trying to put their hands on her. Desperately she tried to fend them off.


    Confused Hal assumed that she and these three male co-workers were acting on information that they had received after making their choice.


    One of his co-workers skin shinny with perspiration wasn''t just putting a hand on her he was reaching for more plush parts of her body.


    Harumi was one of those girls who liked to wear clothes that were in style and expensive. Today she was wearing a low cut top with a lacey knit jacket and a skirt that showed most of the long length of her legs.


    Her style choices were coming back to bite her now.


    [6 secs]


    With pleading eyes she implored him to help her out. Saw that he was frozen trying to understand what was happening. He could see that the desperate situation that she was in and knew that he had to do something. But he had never been that courageous.


    Confused he didn''t know why his up to this point normal male friends were approaching Harumi like this, but he could easily see that she didn''t like it.


    And then he really lost his composure when his long time friend Gan Meiyu reached over from the side. But Gan didn''t put his hand on Harumi, instead he put his hand on Hal while yelling at Harumi.


    "Hey! Don''t you dare get him involved in your games!"


    And then Dan continued to yell at Hal.


    "Pick lord! Hurry!! I will support you!"


    Meiyu rushed up from behind Gan and grabbed his left hand and pulled it towards the lord selection confirmation within Hal''s own cerulean text box of death.


    "How are you seeing my screen?"


    Emotions immediately clouded Hal''s mind. As far as he understood no one could see anyone else''s screen, but obviously Meiyu could. This was even more confusing.


    There were also noises as more and more people surrounded Hal and Harumi. Some of them were trying to pull Harumi away, but Harumi now had Hal in a death grip. She was not going to let go of Hal no matter what. Desperately fighting she scissored and kicked her legs trying to free herself from the surrounding boys.


    Despite being talk, Harumi wasn''t that physically fit though and her kicks didn''t seem to do anything beyond further arouse and anger the boys trying to get a piece of her.


    "Hey, that loser? Come spend some time with a real man."


    "I thought you liked me?"


    "Spend the apocalypse with me. I promise to bring you joy every single day!"


    Many of them were promising things or boasting in their strength.


    All Hal could think was that these guys were crazy all fighting over Harumi when there were dozens of other girls all around them. Their division had at least a hundred cubes lined up in rows in this huge room.


    [2 secs]


    Some of the boys figured it out and several cubes down a boy entered a girl''s cube as she began to scream.


    In all the commotion Hal forgot to make his selection.


    [1 secs]


    ''Oh, well, this is all too confusing anyway. The default selection is probably servant, I don''t have to worry. Already I can tell that being a lord is just way to stressful. Boy am I glad to be just a servant!''


    [User selection made.]


    [Congratulations on submitting your application for becoming a lord!]


    [Successful approval of you lord application will be dependent on how many servants choose you as their lord. You may increase the chances of approval by physically claiming those servants that you wish to command.]


    [But be careful, servants may also wish to select you as their lord. Please reject their appeal if you do not wish to have them as your servant.]The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Hal met Harumi''s eyes as the masses around them all fought and some even bled for recognition.


    [Selection timeframe has expired. All choices have been finalized.]


    [Calculating... 4%]


    [Calculating... 68%]


    [Calculation complete.]


    All around them people were going out of their minds. The smell of feces and urine was heavy in the air as the reality of the situation scared the piss and shit out of them. The building started to shake. Loud explosions came from outside silencing all the various sounds from within. Everyone was too captured by the mighty sounds of destruction for any spare thoughts. That was how all encompassing the experience of the world being destroyed was.


    In a way it was as if the people were giving respect to the planet as it died. Their silence was the last fleeting tribute to the world that was the coital birthplace of their existence up to now.


    And then it was over. The final cataclysmic destruction suddenly cut off and Hal wondered if he had just died.


    In actuality the system had only frozen them in preparation from their eminent transfer to the higher plane.


    Eyes locked with Harumi, Hal wished that she had not made such a big deal out of all this. He wasn''t some lord. He didn''t have any qualifications for lordship. He didn''t even want to be a leader.


    All he would want at this moment was to have a redo. In games wasn''t it possible to quit and restart. Wouldn''t it be great if he could go back to six minutes ago and make some better choice.


    But there was no going back and instead Hal felt the world drop out from under his feet as he was projected into an alternate dimension. A higher plane was swiftly inbound.


    Slowly the word around him began to populate each object being drawn and then filled in, before finally taking on a three dimensional presence. Except that once everything was fleshed out the surroundings became more and more real until with a splurt the plants all around flouresced giving off an excess of vitality. It was unquestionable and brutally clear this was real, the sense of life all around was suffocating.


    [Congratulations! You have been transmigrated to a higher plane as a Lord!]


    [This world is a transitory world in safe mode. All higher civilizations have been locked out of this plane. In one year''s time this plane will either become a world upon which the human race may seed the universe or this plane will break apart and be claimed by the various parties currently warring for control.]


    ''What!?''


    Hal still wasn''t able to accept what had happened.


    ''Why am I a Lord? I wanted to be a servant. What did Meiyu do?!"


    [A higher plane has been seeded with your planet''s materials. The local cosmos has also been seeded with your main star, planets, and objects. This plane in safe mode is a designation supported by a generous benefactor whose gift of 10 sextillion gigahertz of energy will sustain this plane for 1 year.]


    [The new Lord''s Novice Protection will last 10 days.]


    [This plane''s benefactor will host several Novice Lord Events. Please stay tuned.]


    And then the helpful cerulean text screen stopped popping notices and Hal heaved a sigh of relief.


    ''At least I can relax and take my time to grow all by myself. I don''t think I will compete for any rewards or titles. Just a modest growth to stay alive, that will be good enough for me. And if I die, who cares, anyways.''


    Thinking weird thoughts Hal looked around, finding himself in a clearing with high mountains rising up above trees all around him.


    ''Sigh, this is so beautiful. This higher plane really is kind of nice!''


    Taking a deep breath Hal smiled a little bit turning so he could get a full 360 degree view. A small stream emptied into a little lake in the distance. He could see the light glinting off the water through the trees. Directly opposite of the lake the woods became darker even a few paces beneath the canopy.


    Still there was nothing scary or large coming his way so he thought he would take a stroll closer to the lake to see more of the environment.


    As soon as he moved he realized that his old modern day clothes were gone. Now as he moved it became apparent immediately. All he had on was a runic. No pants, no shoes, nothing else besides a rope knotted around his waist keeping the tunic from flying up. It was actually a bit too windy all of a sudden.


    Embarrassed, it was this moment that the system began transmigrating people into existence all around him.


    Crying and screams broke the previously serene atmosphere.


    [Your servants have been transmigrated or instantiated.]


    [Summary:


    Transmigrated Souls: 28


    Dependents:14


    Instantiated Souls: 22


    Dependents: 61]


    ''Ah, thanks?''


    Was all Hal could think. It felt like the system was out to get him. If he was going to be a lord, why couldn''t he be alone!


    [Your welcome. A grateful Lord is rare!]


    Suddenly the system said something that scared Hal almost to death.


    ''That is just too creepy. The system has an AI?''


    Speaking out loud Hal was quick to reply back.


    "No, wait! I didn''t mean it like that! I mean, I just wasn''t expecting the system to reply back..."


    Silence greeted Hal''s words leaving him in suspense. Evidently this system had limited ways to interact.


    Sighing Hal started trying to figure out what to do with all these people. The AI didn''t need to prompt him, but instead of giving a smart response he just said in his mind.


    ''Thanks bringing these people here. I will support them of course I will. You got it!''


    The last Hal said with some pep in his tone, but really he was overwhelmed.


    "Hal! Hal! Over here!"


    Suddenly a voice that he knew brought his attention to his right. There was Harumi standing before him with a bright smile.


    "I knew it! I am so glad you got me away from all those men!"


    Harumi said.


    But Hal was anything but excited to see her.


    ''This is going to be trouble, for sure.''


    She couldn''t help herself, even in a tunic ending in a much more conservative mid thigh length compared to the short short skirt she wore to the office and no cleavage at all Harumi was still breathtakingly beautiful. Her skin was clear and her features refined. Black hair hung straight down from a perfect part down the middle of her head. The lustrous glossy fullness ended just above the small of her back.


    But Hal was not taken in my her looks. He had sat directly opposite of her for two years at Anderson INC. He knew all the boys she had dated and how she had lead them all on as if it was some kind of game. She had had five steady boy friends all rich who had showered lavish gifts upon her at every opportunity. And in between steady boy friends she had had many suitors who sometimes showed up behind him and in front of her cube to fight it out over her. Literally fight. It was a drama show, constantly.


    The cubes had been made of sound suppressing material, but with only three sides of the cube enclosed the fourth side let all the sound transmit directly across to Hal.


    So all the discussions about boys with her two best friends who had often sat with her in her cube to talk had all come through loud and clear. And they hadn''t been shy about gossiping about everyone. And Hal meant everyone, including him. So he knew exactly what she thought of him. Which was weird, because he wouldn''t have thought that she would be interested in a boy that she thought of as weak and stupid.


    But obviously she was interested enough in him to select him as her ''lord''. It was all confusing and this plane was just too weird.


    On the other hand, of course he wasn''t above appreciating the care she took to make herself presentable. She worked out, had hobbies, and ate only the best of food. Over the two years he had known her she had even gone out of her way to ask him almost everyday how she looked. Hal had become good by necessity at figuring out what she had changed about her outfit. He had to come up with something to say every time and he wasn''t about to say that the only reason she looked good in such revealing clothes was because she was lucky enough to have large C cup breasts.


    On more than one occasion he had fought back by making sure she knew he wasn''t interested in being her boy friend. Hal had no interest in being one of the pathetic beings that fought and slaved for her attention. Besides it was all just too much.


    ''I am not interested in dealing with your drama!''


    But Hal only said this in his mind. His mother had drilled into him that he would always treat women with respect.


    Thinking about his mother, he wondered where she was. He had moved out of his father''s house ten years ago, going to college and then working had taken up so much time that he didn''t often check in with his parents.


    Perhaps they are both Lords or maybe they decided to be servants. Hal didn''t know and had no way of finding out.


    Just then Hal''s train of thought was interrupted by two screams as both of Harumi''s friends found her in the mix of humanity that was Hal''s servants and their dependents. Hal had thought that they were being attacked or something, but instead it was just girls being girls. His nerves were already totally fried.


    One of the women looked over at Hal and not liking his facial expression or something proceeded to take Hal down a peg.


    "Oh, don''t worry. You are not that important. Harumi just needed to get away from those disgusting pigs."


    Sarah, one of Harumi''s girl friends, took the moment to immediately clarify what happened putting Hal in his place.


    Harumi seeing that his girls were about to cause some drama turned away so that the three of them could start chatting with each other.


    Relieved at escaping with just his pride taking a hit Hal moved in the opposite direction trying to get away from them as much as possible. But again his attention was pulled away.


    "Hal!"


    This time the voice he heard was most welcome.


    "Meiyu?"


    Meiyu walked up to Hal with Gan dragging behind.


    "Gan, too? How are you guys!"


    This was the best of all possible outcomes. His two best friends in the whole world.


    Hal had met Gan in college when they had been grouped together for a project in some class they had both forgotten the name of. Since then they had graduated together and it had been Gan who had suggested they apply as programmers at Anderson INC. Just like that they had been working together in-depth for six years.


    Meiyu and Gan had started dating some four years ago and had been going strong ever since. They weren''t married preferring to live their lives to the fullest before completely committing and having kids. Once kids came they would have had to devote everything the the little ones.


    It was crazy that they had all made it to this other world together now.


    "We are doing fine."


    Gan answered his tone of voice and facial expression shouted stress. Hal realized that Meiyu was the one holding Gan''s hand. Comforting her boyfriend she turned to Hal.


    "What are we going to do?"


    Her first question brought a lot of psychological pressure to Hal. He wasn''t cut out for the pressure of leadership and wished that he had a girl friend holding his hand and comforting him right now.

 Connections Matter

    After looking around blankly Hal noticed that both Gan and Meiyu were being stubborn. For a while his two best friends looked to him and waited. It was uncharacteristic of them to not lead out with lots of thoughts and ideas. They had always been a never ending source of fun.


    Hal finally shrugged.


    "We just need to explore. Right now we are dealing with a lack of information. Any decision we make might result in negative results. Without knowing the rules of the game we will be doomed to mediocrity. However, there is no telling what is out there, so we have to be careful. We can''t start planning till we have some idea of what this higher plane really is."


    With some kind of direction Gan was already starting to break out of his frozen state.


    "That is a good idea. Come on."


    Gan said intending to head out to do some exploring with Meiyu.


    However, instead Meiyu dragged Gan over to stand right next to Hal''s side and then turned to face away calling out to the surrounding people. This is how Meiyu often was, when she had an idea in her mind and felt that she had the freedom to do what she please, she would just do it and to hell with the consequences.


    "Hey! Hey! Everyone! I found him! This is our Lord! His name is Hal!"


    After shouting a bit Meiyu turned to Hal and winked at him.


    The pressure just soared to the highest point in Hal''s young life. He hadn''t wanted this and didn''t want to be put on the spot now. But Meiyu had set him up and he couldn''t betray her. Obviously exploring wasn''t the most important thing right this moment to Meiyu. The most important thing was consolidating his people, giving them hope and a purpose.


    Shaking his head Hal firmed his mouth into a hard line.


    "Hello everyone. Yes, my name is Hal, and the system has designated me as a Lord. Welcome everyone."


    At this point Hal stopped. Out of words he didn''t know what else to say. But everyone had quieted down and were now looking at him.


    ''Can''t I be done, now?''


    Sure he could just walk away at this point, but Hal decided he had to treat these people with respect.


    "Listen, I am not the best person for this job. Honestly, I didn''t want to be a Lord. But, I don''t see any way of backing out now. So, I want to just ask for your help. I will come around and talk to each family one by one. Let me know what you need. I don''t have anything, but with what the system will allow, I will work to provide everything, given time."


    His little speech was greeted with more whispers and derision than Hal had been hoping for, but this was nothing new to him. He had always been the people pleaser type and knew that that part of himself would come out now, too.


    Suddenly someone spoke up from the crowd.


    "What is this rock and what are these tokens?"


    Walking over to the person who had been speaking Hal saw a rock about eighteen inches high and eight inches wide and deep. Focusing on it Hal was greeted with a pop up.


    [Awakening Stone


    1. Territory related system actions may be performed here.


    2. All territory members may access this stone to awaken their talent.


    3. Territory members may also be given additional permissions by the Lord depending on their role and responsibilities within the domain.]


    And then looking at the tokens that were arranged on the top of the stone Hal saw another group of prompts. However each stone''s prompt said the same thing, all five stones were exact duplicates of each other.


    [Troop Privilege (Special)


    A Lord can call forth a single troop with this token. The first troop summoned will be their designated troop type. Troop types are randomly assigned based on the lord''s talent.


    If the Lord doesn''t have any talent, this token can be used to forge a connection to the God of Death. Once a successful connection has been made the user will receive the default summon, skeleton warrior.


    (For lord use only)]


    Surprised Hal was immediately interested in passing out role and responsibilities using the awakening stone, but the tokens looked really interesting to Hal as well. Obviously, the troop token was special because it could produce the troop types that could offer needed protection to a fledgling domain. But there was also a bit of information about lords without talents. Evidently some lords had to be offered the ability to forge a connection to the God of Death.


    Thinking that this plane probably preferred Lords, giving them extra luck or privileges Hal kneeled down so that it was easier to place his hand on the stone.


    [Sensing an unawakened human. You would you like to awaken? Y/N]


    Kneeling in this supplicants pose Hal felt pretty awkward in front of his people.


    [Awakening commencing.]


    [Searching ... 1%]


    [Searching ... 2%]


    This looked like it was going to take a long time, but with all his people gathered around Hal stayed focused. Not daring to look away absent mindedly.


    [Searching ... 99%]


    [Searching ... 100%]


    [No talent found. Awakening complete.]


    Finally the awakening completed, but the result absolutely shocked Hal. Taking his hand from the stone he back off. Embarrassed and ashamed that he didn''t have a talent stiff with confusion all he could say was this.


    "Go ahead, awaken. Everyone, take your turn and awaken your talents."


    Keeping his face a mask, Hal motioned for everyone else to awaken as well. But inside what worried Hal was that he hadn''t received a talent from the system.


    ''Do I not have talent?''


    Talking to himself, he received a response from the system anyways.


    [That is correct, you have no talent. Please find a way to awaken a talent on your own.]


    Brutal the system didn''t spare him any face. Shaking his head Hal cleared his mind.


    ''No, problem. I never expected to have any talent in the first place. Thanks, system!''


    Hal said in his head, but then thought to change the subject.


    ''Actually, I can''t keep calling you "System", do you have a name?''


    [I am specifically known as matrix A''B43!Gamma7787Florenz, but you can just call me Flo for short.]


    ''Hey, Flo, it is nice to meet you.''


    Hal said genuinely glad to have the Ai assistant. Unconsciously Hal began to think of Flo as female. He wasn''t sure if this fit or not, but he would go with it till the AI told him otherwise or things became weird again.


    [Lord, I will endeavor to make sure sure your connection to the God of Death goes through smoothly.]


    Flo brought the subject back to talents.


    ''Really?''


    For a moment Hal didn''t understand what concept the system had jumped to, but then remembered that every lord was given those [Troop Privilege (Special)] tokens. Evidently Flo would be helping him summon his first troop. Could Flo be accidentally hinting that during the troop summoning process it was possible to awaken a talent?


    "Boss, was something supposed to happen when you touched that rock?"


    Interrupting his thought, an uncle who had sidled up to Hal as he had been staring off into space when awakening just now. But being called ''Boss'' was too much. He still felt like a normal person, not even close to being as accomplished as any of these people had been back on the blue planet.


    "You can just call me Hal, no honorifics, I am just a normal person same as you!"


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Hal said back immediately.


    "Sure, whatever you say, ... Hal ..."


    And the man casually reached out his hand and touched the awakening rock as if it was just another thing to do in this world with absolutely no significance. Despite Hal encouraging everyone to step up and awaken a talent, no had. Instead they had all looked at each other wondering who would go first. Evidently after seeing Hal awaken, they hadn''t been impressed.


    Interestingly enough when this uncle touched the rock it immediately lit up and shining too bright to look directly at another system prompt came up in front of Hal.


    [Servant Henry has awakened a talent:


    Strength]


    ''So this is what should have happened when I touched the stone?''


    Hal had to take a step back as Henry jumped for joy rising a fist up to the sky and calling out to everyone his talent.


    "Wahoo! I just gained a talent, Strength! Wow, this is like one of those transmigration light novels! Everyone try it! Just touch the stone, you will find out your talent."


    Backing up even more Hal made room for everyone to come up and touch the stone. Now, everyone was excited and suddenly everyone pushed to have first access to the stone. In the press it was like everyone became greedy pushing away other people''s hands so that no one person could keep there hand down on the stone long enough to awaken.


    Eventually Meiyu and Gan stepped up among the throng of people.


    "Hey! Everyone listen up! I said listen!"


    Meiyu shouted.


    When everyone stopped pushing and shoving she went on.


    "Now, there is no hurry. Everyone is going to get their turn. Single file, line up. I said line up in single file!!"


    It took some energy, but Meiyu finally had everyone obeying her and in no time each individual had a chance to touch the stone and see what their talent was. Gan stood right behind Meiyu''s shoulder and folding his arms stoically stared anyone down who dared to try to speak over his girlfriend.


    Looking on from the side Hal could only watch in amazement as Meiyu took care of the crowd. He had no idea how she could do something like that. Quickly he was realizing that he was going to have to keep Meiyu close. She was turning out to be invaluable.


    After some time Meiyu reported to Hal.


    "That''s it. Everyone is done. It turns out that everyone below 18 years of age can''t awaken. But I think this might be a restriction of the system and not because they actually don''t have any talent. Besides the kids there was only one person who did not have a talent and ..."


    Meiyu explained what they had learned from everyone who had awoken a talent. Only part way through Hal interrupted her.


    "Me?"


    Startled she looked at him, and then hurried to correct what she had been going to say.


    "You? ... No! I mean the only person who doesn''t have a talent is James and he is over ninety. Practically at death''s door."


    "Oh."


    Confused for a second, Hal had to process the fact that he was the only one who wasn''t too young or too old to have a talent.


    "Wait, you don''t have a talent?"


    She asked surprised.


    "Yes, well, no. Actually, the truth is that I don''t have a talent, but the system says that I can still awaken on my own. Not sure if that is because I am a lord or not."


    There was an awkward pause after Hal explained and then Meiyu just went on.


    "Oh, that is good then. Lucky you and lucky everyone here! You should go awaken a talent as soon as you can."


    She beamed at him as if there was nothing wrong with having a talentless Lord. Obviously she was looking on the bright side.


    Swallowing hard Hal decided to leave it.


    "Alright, will you talk to Gan to make sure he is still good with exploring around a bit?"


    Wanting to get the interaction done with he asked her for what he felt like was a favor, but she responded as if it was a command.


    "Yes, I will get right on that. Both Gan and I awakened perception talents. He has [Far Sight] and I have something called [God''s Eye]. Not sure what that means yet."


    She beamed at him, both proud to have such a strong talent and happy to do what he asked.


    "Oh! That sounds like a powerful talent. I am sure it is going to be a good for the territory! And I am a bit jealous!"


    Honestly Hal was more than a bit jealous, but he buttoned down his feelings and went on talking to Meiyu.


    "And, I just want you to know, that wasn''t a a command or anything. You don''t have to ask Gan go explore if you don''t want to. I just thought that... Uhmm, I am going to go around and talk to everyone. ... Thanks!"


    Striding away Hal left Meiyu staring after him with an amused smile. Without looking back he went about the business he felt was most important right now. He didn''t want to look weak in front of her, but knew that he was failing terrifically.


    Slowly he went around and talked with everyone. It was easier than he thought to do this, because everyone began to group up. As he went around he found that the people who had become his servants were not random.


    The instantiated people were easy to pick out because their names appeared over their heads in dark green, much like non player characters in games. It was rather awkward and led to them being left out of the Blue planet people''s conversations. It wasn''t because the blue planet people were snobs, it was just that they weren''t sure yet if the instantiated people were real people or just robot like with preprogrammed lines and actions. It didn''t help that the there were so many more children than adults in the instantiated group. The adults could only look after their kids who didn''t yet have games or jobs to distract their attention. Further, there were only two instantiated adult males and both of them were over sixty. The rest of the adults were female and most of these adults were young women just barely adults in their twenties. However there were four older women who had already found each other and were calmly talking in a circle by themselves. It was like there was a big gap in the population between the ages of 30 and 50.


    Interestingly enough Hal realized quickly that the younger women, the kids, and the top old men were being very careful not to go near this group of four older women in the very center of their wider group. At the same time, whether it was programming or some kind of social order they didn''t stray to far from them either. Mystified all Hal could do was watch and wait, when he had introduced himself to the older women they had been extremely polite and welcoming, but they hadn''t encouraged him to stick around either.


    After going around to talk to everyone Hal broken down the different groups of people in his head. Of the fifty adults ten of them were older people. Six of them were in the instantiated group and four in the Blue planet group.


    When he talked to the blue planet people a little shocked to find that they were all people that had some sort of connection to him. For instance he had volunteered at an old folks home regularly just down the street from the Anderson INC company. It was easy to stop there after work and visit people. Three little old grannies in their eighties and one bent over and wheezing old man, James, in his nineties were here from that old folks home.


    Then there were five girls from the programming floor at Anderson INC, they somehow made it into Harumi''s group. Swelling that group to eight.


    Gan was already in conference with three friends from the programming team. These were guys that Hal had hanged out with during lunch and breaks.


    Then it turned out that all of Meiyu''s immediate family followed her here. Her mother, father, older sister, and younger brother.


    Having come this far Hal had already met all the male members of his territory. Hal himself, the two older instantiated men, James, Gan, the three programmers, Meiyu''s little brother, and finally Meiyu''s father. This was the ten men of his territory, Hal included. However, Hal didn''t get a chance to talk with any of them before Gan took the physically fit men with him to explore around the area. Without Hal, the three old men this was a six member exploration squad.


    Then there were seven women with kids who were either divorced or just never married. Hal had known these women either on the programming floor at Anderson INC or in other departments there. Since all of these women had kids they didn''t fit completely with Harumi''s group. Assuming that this separation was just a matter of priorities around raising kids, Hal encouraged them to connect with others.


    Fortunately they fit right in with Meiyu''s family. Meiyu, Meiyu''s mother, and sister mixed in right away with the family group. Hal would have thought that Harumi''s older sister would have gone to Harumi''s group, but there seemed to be a bit of animosity between Harumi and Meiyu. Meiyu''s sister picked up on this and stuck with her mother.


    Harumi was very aggressively finding and including all the single women into her mini sisterhood. It seemed that Harumi was not going to allow any unaffiliated females to roam around. It was very clear that she was already really worried about Meiyu and Meiyu''s sister. However, both stayed away from Harumi''s clutches.


    Fortunately for Meiyu, Harumi couldn''t force Meiyu into her crowd. This allowed Meiyu to act with a little more freedom making it possible for her to go around to all the elderly individuals, children whether they were from the blue planet or were instantiated.


    The number one requested item was food. Everyone wanted food. After that it was video games. All the younger kids who didn''t understand the situation were already nagging and nagging him to get them some screens that they could play their favorite games on and talk with their friends through.


    It amused Hal, it was the hardest thing he had done so far to face these kids and tell them that there would be no more games, internet, or shows to watch. The younger ones just didn''t get it. To have to stand firm in the face of these kid''s constant anxiety from being deprived now that they couldn''t play their favorite games, post, or chat. Fortunately the kids from the instantiated group had no idea what these games were that the Blue planet kids were craving and just thought they wanted to play ball or hopscotch.


    So when instantiated kids started to play ''old fashioned'' games the Blue planet kids slowly and awkwardly tried to play, too. Of course at real world games they were beaten at every turn. Which of course caused a whole other problem.


    Frazzled and frustrated with the sheer inability of these kids to understand what was going on, Hal came away as the sun was going down to talk to Gan. Even the adults were irritated and confused with all the changes. It was understandable, but also there was nothing that Hal could do about any of it.


    Only one fortunate thing happened. At Meiyu''s insistence the Blue planet people and the instance people combined. This resulted in three main groups. First was the family group who naturally strangely enough became controlled and commanded by the 10 old people over sixty. Which technically meant the four instantiated grandmas. However the three blue planet grannies over eighty were surprisingly given places of honorary authority among the chaos. Their was one of the four instantiated sixty year old women who lead out organizing everyone to do the necessary tasks among this group. Jane was her name and Hal was grateful and felt fortunate that there was someone in this new plane that seemed to know exactly what to do and how to do it to survive.


    This only made sense to Hal and he got out of her way. Of course he was only too glad to have them handle all the kids. Jane and her "Cronies" as she called them had those kids either off and playing or for the older kids carrying and fetching after Hal finally walked away.


    This family group was the largest group by far.


    The second group was Harumi''s crowd of young women. Nominally lead by Harumi there didn''t seem to be anyone among these girls who wanted to contest Harumi''s power. That or they just didn''t seem to want the attention.


    Finally the last group was the male group which was led out by Gan. Meiyu''s father was closely supporting Gan, but let the younger man take the lead. Hal was surprised by Meiyu''s father Ping''s calm demeanor and patience with everything that was happening.


    Servants had a 30% survival rate! There were 125 human souls in his charge if only 30% of them survived he would only have less than forty left. And so many of these people were just kids. Perhaps that was why the instantiated people were so interested in having kids. The system had programmed them to know what it took to survive.


    Talking to Gan Hal fingered the troop tokens in his hand. He had been carrying them around since first finding them at the awakening stone.


    [Would you like to summon a troop? Y/N]


    [Detecting no talent, would you like to make a covenant with the god of death? Y/N]


    Flo automatically prompted Hal with his options.

 Champion Of Death

    There was no way Hal was going to just go ahead at this point. Flo had already dropped the hint that during his troop summon he could also gain a talent. He knew himself and he knew how unlucky he was. If he was actually going to receive a talent then he had to do whatever he could in his own power to stack his chances of successfully gaining a talent.


    ''Flo, is there any way to increase the chances of gaining a talent during the troop summon?''


    Hoping that Flo would be able to give more information Hal asked a question very seriously. It wasn''t that he was anxious, though, if Flo didn''t know how to maximize his chances he would proceed with the troop summoning and gain a talent in some other way. No, problem.


    [There are two ways to gain a talent during troop summoning. The first way is to have a strong affinity with the god of death. The second way is to pledge something to the god of death in return for a talent.]


    Fortunately Flo really did know the circumstances under which he could gain a talent. And it was really very simple. Basically he could ignore the first way. If he had a strong affinity to the god of death he would have awakened a talent with the awakening stone. But since he didn''t he was left with the second method. He would have to find something to pledge.


    ''Flo, what would a god want? What can I pledge that a god would want?''


    [Lord, currently you have nothing that a god would want. Other than you soul.]


    The first part of Flo''s answer left Hal feeling like he would just have to move on, but then she qualified herself. That was a very human thing to say and Hal wondered if she was subtly playing with him somehow.


    ''My, soul? What would a god want with my soul?''


    Naively Hal asked a deep question.


    [Well, souls are the basic unit...]


    ''Oh, sorry, I shouldn''t have asked that question.''


    Realizing that he had just asked a question that was way to in depth for his current circumstances Hal rephrased his question.


    ''What I mean is, can I gain a talent without giving up my soul? Even if it is another way besides this troop summoning token.''


    Hal didn''t want to get into the details. He just needed the key points. Every moment that he slacked off here at the start the farther behind he would be later.


    [... The short answer is no. Everyone with a talent receives there talent through the power of a god. Basically if an individual is given a talent then the source of that talent has claim on that talent user''s soul. That source generally being known as a god. That is except the death gods.]


    Now Flo was getting somewhere interesting. Talents, souls, and gods were all linked. What caught Hal''s interest the most was the bit about the exception.


    ''What don''t death gods have claim on souls?''


    Thought Hal.


    [Lord, the gods of death do have claim on the souls of those individuals who are given a talent. It is just that no soul natively has a talent from a death god. A baby''s soul is too weak to support and sustain a talent from a death god. The very nature of death is anathema to the source of life. Therefore it is impossible for anyone to have a native born death aspect talent.]


    ''But you just said that if I have an affinity for death I could get a talent, isn''t what you are saying contradictory? Wouldn''t a person with an affinity for death be dead?''


    [Not at all. No being is born with a death aspect. However, there are many ways to gain an affinity to death.]


    Flo was very patiently explaining.


    ''Can, I gain a death aspect now?''


    Suddenly there was more hope.


    [Unfortunately, I don''t have the ability to measure divine energy waves. If I did, I would be a god. However, it is theorized that the act of pledging your soul to a death god would allow an individual to gain a death aspect.]


    This was back to the second method of gaining a talent. He was starting to go in circles. Unfortunately he didn''t have time to do the research he needed to figure out how to preserve his soul in this situation. With the survival rate of .01% he was looking at death anyway. Hal figured he might as well bite the bullet and pledge his soul. It didn''t soul like too bad a deal anyway. If everyone was claimed by the god who was the source of their talent anyway. What was the harm?


    ''Alright, but you said there are death gods plural. If I pledged my soul to a specific death god would my odds of receiving a talent increase?''


    Figuring that it wouldn''t hurt to raise his chances even more Hal asked another question.


    [Yes, there are many death gods wouldn''t even notice if you did pledge your soul.]


    Okay, then this is the right direction.


    ''Which god do you think would be the best to pledge to?''


    This was a key question. The truth was that he didn''t know anything about any gods of death. If Flo was able to parse through all the data and provide a list of Gods that he could try that would be best.


    [Calculating ... 1%]


    [Calculating ... 2%]


    [Calculating ... 99%]


    [Calculating ... 100%]


    After getting off to a slow start Flo suddenly finished her calculations. It was almost as if this was a really easy question for her.


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    [Lord, the most appropriate god of death to pledge your soul to is Cernunnos.]


    ''Cernunnos?''


    [Yes, he is a god of the underworld. He is also a god of the hunt, with aspects of wild, nature, and fertility.]


    Flo explained her reasoning carefully, but none of it seemed to apply to Hal himself.


    ''Fertility?''


    [Yes, he is also a god of fertility. But that is not important, he is a lord of the underworld and therefore if you pledge your soul to him using the troop tokens provided he will be able to hear you. Also he has no living worshippers, so he will have every reason to accept your pledge.]


    This god Cernunnos seemed to have a lot of weird interests.


    ''Okay, but is there any other gods that I can pledge to? I have five tokens, so if the first doesn''t succeed then maybe another god will...?''


    [No.]


    Bluntly Flo rejected his idea.


    ''What, you can''t just say no! There has to be a second option.''


    Protested Hal.


    [These are gods, lord. Once you pledge your immortal soul to a god you can''t take it back. No other god will have anything to do with you.]


    ''There has to be a way.''


    Hal was not going to just give up and just accept failure if Cernunnos didn''t accept him.


    [Well, Cernunnos is often more concerned with feasting and drinking then he is with the day to day affairs of his domain. This is why he no longer has any living followers. ... Anyways, you can''t pledge to another god, but Cernunnos does have a few demi gods. If rejected it wouldn''t be impossible to gain the interest of one of his demi gods.]


    Now, Flo was talking.


    ''Oh? Which demi gods are we talking about?''


    [Death demi gods related to Cernunnos, there are four, Morrigan, Donn, Ankou, and Scathatch. There are a few others, but the web of relations between gods is pretty deep. I can only say with some certainty that these four demi gods would be amenable.]


    ''So if Cernunnos rejects me, then if I can get the attention of one of these four demi gods, I will have another chance? Can you tell me a little about each of them?''


    Whatever Flo told him next was going to be really important, so Hal decided to listen carefully.


    [Sure. The Morrigan is perhaps the most powerful, if only because she still has the most living followers to this day. Her aspects are battle, strife, and fertility. She will fearlessly confront challenges and as a guardian of the underworld she leads the armies of ghosts, most prominently the banshees. Donn''s aspect is simple, he is the Dark One. But there are positive sides to his nature, for example he will heal and teach healing as well as guide souls to the underworld. Ankou is the harbringer of death. Different from most gods he is only a skeleton, but does have dark cowl and a large hat. Often he is scene with a scythe as well. Basically he is the work horse of the underworld. All he does is appear when someone is about to die, collects their soul, and then leads them to the underworld. The clean up crew. Last is Scathatch, is a teacher. Basically those who follow her become elite warriors and after they die she escorts them through the valley of death to the land of eternal youth.]


    Wow, these demi-gods are morbid folk, but at least none of them are dragons or fishes.


    ''Alright. I feel like my chances are pretty good then. Is there one of those demi-gods that you recommend that I try for first?''


    [I recommend Scathatch, then Donn, Morrigan, and finally Ankou. Scathatch is wise and while a god of death has many qualities that will be important for a struggling territory to defend itself. Donn is only slightly less powerful for you, even though it would be great to have healing powers, if you can''t win in a fight what use are you. Morrigan is very powerful, but also just dangerous stay far away from her. And well Ankou is just weak. What little benefits he could provide your territory, anyway?]


    Categorizing these demi gods based on how much they could help his territory Hal thought that Flo''s analysis was pretty spot on.


    ''Alright, I will begin.''


    Without worrying about the outcome Hal moved into a kneeling position and folded arms to pray.


    [Lord, Cernunnos is a god of the hunt. He will respect you more if present yourself as a powerful young man.]


    Suggested Flo unbidden.


    ''Oh, thanks, right.''


    The last thing that Hal felt was powerful. But he rose all the way to his feet and lifted his arms to the air, the first token on the palm of his right hand.


    "Oh, great God of Death Cernunnos! I beseech thee, take my soul and give me a blessing!"


    Calling out some random words that he thought would be good in this situation Hal felt a little self conscious. But after a few minutes there was no response.


    ''Did I do something wrong?''


    [No, try again with all five tokens in hand.]


    Said Flo easily as if this tactic wasn''t going to limit him in many ways if he failed.


    This time Hal raised up his hands again to the sky with all five troop summoning tokens in the palm of his right hand.


    "Great God of the Hunt, Cernunnos! I summon thee! Come forth and revel in the great hunt one more time! I stand at the beginning, at the remaking of earth! Before me is the great hunt! All humans everywhere seek to survive, but I seek to win! Come forth! Lead my fallen to your great underworld!"


    [...]


    Flo didn''t say anything, but there seemed to be a pregnant silence from that area of his mind that he figuratively thought of as the seat of the system.


    And then the smell of cooking meat wafted on the wind to Hal''s nose and he suppressed the desire to drool. The murmuring sounds of thousands of people laughing and chatting reached his ears in the next moment. Trying to focus on the words was impossible, Hal couldn''t figure out what was being said, if it was even being said in a language that he understood. And then an oppressive weight descended onto his shoulders as a man with antlers and a torc around his neck appeared on a golden throne in the air above him.


    {Mortal, you dare summon me?}


    Now that Hal had gotten what he wanted he realized that all his previous plans and methods for guaranteeing benefits were all mere whims, flights of fantasy before a true god.


    "God of Death, I do summon thee!"


    But he couldn''t back down now. Something within him pushed him to fight back and resist the urge to kneel prostrate on the ground.


    {You, a weakling, wish to make me believe that you can lead this new world to the heights? Do you even know the glory of the hunt?}


    Cernunnos spoke in loud voice, but glancing back Hal could see that everyone was still going about their business just like normal. They couldn''t see anything out of the ordinary.


    "Yes, Lord, I know of the hunt and the glory that it brings. I know what it means to track down and create the perfect piece of code that does what you want with the least amount of time, money, and memory. This is what I know! It is the modern man''s hunt, but I do it will my friends everyday."


    It was a good question and the honest truth was that Hal didn''t really know about any ''glory'' to hunting. All he could say was that he knew the joy that came from a good day of work. Those days might be one in a thousand, but they happened even if the rest was just a grind.


    Curnunnos laughed at him. Deep belly laughs rolled out of his body shaking the air enough that the sound vibrated in Hal''s eardrums in waves even after the laughter stopped.


    {I like you, mortal. I must say.]


    Hal had thought that Cernunnos was going to end this farce, but instead this God of the Hunt accepted Hal''s answer, or at least he seemed to until the very next moment.


    {But this code? Where is the pain? Is this life and death that you call programming? No, even if I like you I can not accept you at your death into my Hall of Heroes. It would be a disgrace to all the other heroes that have come before you!}


    Swallowing Hal really was going to fall to his knees now. With failure what little strength he had was rapidly being exhausted. Desperate he played the one card he had prepared beforehand.


    "Wait! Great God of glory, allow me to serve your servants then. I will prove myself and when I have I will become a hero more than strong enough to sit down to eat and drink with you and all your heroes from begone ages!"


    This time Cernunnos heard Hal''s request and remained silent. The warmth of Cernunnos'' presence and majesty beat down upon him relentlessly. Until Cernunnos shook his head the antlers swinging wide with each turn.


    {As you wish. I would not wish my demi gods upon anyone, but if this is what you wish, then so be it. Come forth!}


    Booming echoes of Cernunnos'' words reverberated one more time as suddenly his presence was erased and a chilling darkness replaced the light.


    A chattering, clinking of bones was heard in the distance and then a breathy voice spoke out.


    {Do you really offer the souls of your servants to me in return for you blessing?}