Quillen had finally made it—he had achieved his goal, one that took countless years. And when I say years, I mean hundreds.
He had reincarnated time and time again, doing the same thing tens, then hundreds, then thousands of times.
He had traveled to many worlds, fought millions of monsters, and gained billions of points of experience.
He had done so much that he was growing tired of it all.
Saving worlds was quickly becoming old.
It was slowly turning monotonous: being revived, reborn, growing stronger, killing, and then dying again.
The worst part was that he never got to choose where he died, where he revived, or even where he lived.
So, he began a grand-scale plan to do things differently—to live the way he wanted.
To gain control over his own fate.
He would not only strive to be a god once more but to become one who ruled over his own destiny.
For this plan, he had gathered every last merit, all leading to this single moment.
He was even willing to give up his divinity for it.
What he intended to do was dangerous. As a god, he had gained immortality, along with the right to choose one unique divine power.
This power could not clash with the powers of other gods or overlap with their domains. With so many deities already in existence, the selection was extremely limited.
But that didn't matter to Quillen. He had made his choice long ago.
Because what he chose was special.
His power was so potent it could only be used once.
So, what was Quillen's all-mighty power?
Simple. A crafter.
Not just any crafter—a divine armament crafter.
And even then, it was only capable of creating one small, nearly perfect item.
A tiny round orb, small enough to be placed inside the earlobe of a baby.
That was the next part of his plan. After a god uses up all his divinity, he is reborn and starts back at square one—a mortal in some random world.
But again, that was no problem for Quillen. In fact, he welcomed it. He wanted to start fresh in the new world.
He had only one chance, and he used it for this moment.
There was only one command embedded in the orb, one that would activate once he placed it on.
He dug his nail into his ear. It hurt like hell—especially since he was still immortal. The wound had to remain open. Then, he carefully inserted the tiny orb and let the skin close around it. The wound sealed in seconds.
Quillen didn't feel anything different. Nothing changed.
And it wasn't supposed to.
The orb would only activate after he said one word.
Before that, he stood from his chair and looked around. He was still in his forge, surrounded by materials—most now useless. He had already crafted what he needed.
"I guess this is goodbye…"
He glanced at his hammer, his workbench, the furnace, and the endless white void beyond.
These had been his only companions in this realm. He stared at them, the tools of nearly a thousand years of work.
"Well, enough with sentimentality. Let's do this."
He cleared his throat and steadied himself.
All of his divine power would be drained in the next few seconds—everything poured into one small item.
"Copy."
The moment the word left his lips, the entire space lit up.
His ear felt like it was on fire. The heat spread, burning through the side of his skull. Even with his immortality, the pain was unbearable.
[5%]
He couldn't stop himself from crying out. He tried to stay upright, to hold his stance—but it was futile.
[49%]
He fell to his knees, grabbing at the ground. His fingers tore into it, nails breaking—then instantly reforging themselves.
[82%]
Everything was happening in seconds, and yet his mind told him it had been years.
[98%]
His body weakened with every passing moment. He didn't even have time to sweat.
[100% of System Genesis has been copied… Please provide the new system name:]
Quillen finally drew in a slow breath. He didn't need to—immortality made it unnecessary—but after living so long as a mortal, the habit remained.
"Exo… your name shall be Exo. We will live outside of this damn system."
[System Name: Exo…
Warning: Forced ejection required. System Genesis has detected a mortal in the divine plane.
Intervene? Yes / No]
"Yes, of course. That's the whole reason I created you. You are my system now, and I want to be reborn on a planet we'll create. Have it ready. You can do that much, right? I gave you all my divinity for this."
[Checking… Affirmative. Enough power to create World: Al'Thera.]
[Warning: Creating world Al'Thera is draining remaining divinity. System fuel lost: 92%.]
Quillen began to feel weak again. But this time, it wasn't just his power being drained—his soul and body had started to erode.
[Warning: Core Stability—Critical. Rebirth may initiate before full calibration is complete.]
[Warning: Creating world Al'Thera is draining divinity. System fuel lost: 53%]
"What's happening? Don't you have my divinity? Why is it being drained so quickly? I'm supposed to be the one creating my body and my kingdom before leaving this realm!"
[Genesis System Intervention: Loss of functions detected.]
[Warning: Creating world Al'Thera is draining divinity. System fuel lost: 32%]
[Forced Creation complete. Entering hibernation. World… Al'Thera complete… Force Transfer initiated… System fuel remaining: 4%]
"Wait, I didn't even get to choose my place in this world! What do you mean 'force transfer'? I was supposed to be the creator—not some randomly generated mortal!"
[Unable to initiate full calibration… choosing suitable vessel…]
"What do you mean suitable? I want to be the creator!"
But before he could say another word, Quillen began to fade.
His status as a deity was revoked. His immortality stripped away. His divine power, completely nullified.
As he disintegrated into dust—just as all mortals eventually do—he took with him the only thing left: his system.
Together, they were transferred into the world Exo had created, far away, in a place unlike any other.
There, he would begin from zero once again.
But this time… he carried something no one else had:
A copy of the system.