Apocalypse Redux

Apocryphal: What counts?

The [System] was finished. Finally.

Odin slumped back onto his throne, head resting on the cold stone behind him.

For centuries, no, millennia, the universe had been a boring place, with countless planets slowly breaking down as sophonts exploited the natural world at an unsustainable pace until things went past the point of no return.

Even his favorite world, Earth, was well on the way to self-destruction.

But humans were a clever bunch, eventually, someone would figure out how to convert mana to electricity. Or maybe someone would stumble across his runes.

Hed hung from the branches of Yggdrasil for nine days and nights to get them, but hed made sure that they were findable within the grand creation. It would be fascinating what humanity came up with using them, and sadly, they were hardly in a position to find them themselves.

Finally done, Thor grunted. He was currently lying down on one of the long benches that lined the feast tables of Asgard, looking like death warmed over. The only time Odin had ever seen his son so miserable had been the ocean mead incident, in which hed drunk from a mead horn connected to the ocean and downed so much salt water to create the tides.

Optimally, he wouldnt even have been involved, but this was a joint endeavor, which required everyones powers. Divine skill and power downgraded into something a mortal could wield, then made accessible to those who proved themselves worthy.

Two more days, then the [System] would arrive and the worlds would be forever changed. And their foes had not made a peep so far. The longer they waited to make their countermove, the better prepared the sophonts would be.

Hey, Uncle Odin!

Oh purgatory. This was the last thing he needed right now.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

What do you want, Loki? Odin sighed as he lifted his head to stare at the irreverent deity.

Oh, I just thought you might want to see the future champion of Earth.

The [System] hasnt even arrived yet, Odin pointed out. One could try to predict who was going to wind up with the best [Classes] and so on, but that wasnt what was going to be overly accurate.

A little smarts, a little effort, some more time, and I managed to find the single most capable individual in the universe. Hes closed the gates of hell multiple times, colonized multiple archipelagos and built thriving civilizations in the span of an afternoon, and conquered most of the known world at the head of multiple different armies. Hes going to get legendary [Classes] from the starter [Class] all the way to the fifth Evolution just based on those achievements alone.

Is this one of your jokes? Odin sighed as he returned to his previous relaxed position. Hell hadnt been open for almost nine thousand years, and there werent any immortals on Earth anymore.

Of course, he knew Loki didnt lie, but that was mostly because he felt that being an annoying little shit was too easy if he were able to outright state untruths, so hed sworn off lying to make it a challenge.

But this sounded too fantastical to be true.

Nope, Loki said, blowing and popping a bubble of gum on the p.

Then show me this supreme warrior, Odin ordered, not even bothering to stand up straight. Lokis nonsense wasnt really worth it.

Sure, Loki said, creating a holographic image of a young man sitting on a beanbag with a video game controller. He was only slightly overweight, but he still didnt look anything like an unparalleled warrior.

And then Odin caught sight of the game on the screen. It wasnt one he was overly familiar with, but it looked to be about using heavy weaponry to tear apart the hordes of hell, though most of the demons had a strange array of cybernetic enhancements.

Loki, he sighed. Video game achievements are not going to count for the [System].

Loki raised an eyebrow.

We made sure they dont count.

Lokis eyebrow crawled off his head to the point where it hovered a couple of centimeters above his head.

Are you sure about that?

Odin stared at Loki.

Loki stared right back.

And after five seconds, Odin bolted for the door. He needed to fix this!

Once the big guy was safely out of range, Loki started sniggering. The [System] would indeed count those things, but to such a minor degree that it wouldnt really make any difference.

That being said, Loki had sufficiently muddled the [Systems] waters to a sufficient degree that dear old Odin would be untangling that mess all the way until initialization.