Win a World, Become a God – sign up and play.

“Stupid ads,” Alex grumbled and closed the ad pop-up. If only that was all it took to become a Worlder. Let alone that, he would consider himself lucky if he could become a World Manager firm someday!

Shaking his head Alex quickly checked the address for his interview and put his phone away.

It was a freezing morning. Alex regretted not wearing another shirt under the blazer. Even with the heating-runes on his clothes, he was cold. Grey clouds and a snow forecast. Alex already missed his room. For all its shortcomings, at least it was warm.

With a long sigh, Alex joined the stream of pedestrians. Despite his heart pleading to go back in, he needed to find a job.

“Alex!” a loud voice called from behind.

He stopped and looked over his shoulder. A girl in the blue mage robe was trying to elbow her way towards him, while leaving a stream of cusses floating behind her.

“You look when you walk!” he heard the girl bark at a man. As soon as she caught his eye, she gave waved with a wide grin on her face.

“Why is she here?” Alex mumbled. He looked at his watch. It did not take long for her to catch up – in a few second, she was brimming beside him. The first thought that came to his mind was that she had not grown even an inch taller in all these years since school.

“It’s been a long time, huh,” she spoke punching his arm lightly. “I heard you aced the Academy too.”

“Uh, thanks,” Alex said hesitatingly. He had not met her for almost three years now. For her to suddenly run into him like this, he didn’t believe in coincidences like this.

A Worlder looking for him could only mean trouble. Not something he wanted to deal with just before an interview.

“Nekya, it’s nice running into you after so long. But it’s not a good time. I’ve got to run. Let’s talk later, okay?” He promptly waved her goodbye and tried to pull away.

But Nekya did not give up. She chased after him, “Hey, Alex! Wait will you!”

Alex decided pretending not to hear was the best course of action here and didn’t stop. He was already cutting it close to the interview. Besides, he had more pressing issues than consoling a troubled Worlder mage. He had to make sure there was a roof over his head the next week.

“How about we go out for a drink next week?” he offered, hoping to lose her.

They stopped by the side of the road, waiting for the light to turn green.

“How about now? I know a nice place close by,” Nekya replied with a beaming smile.

Alex rubbed his forehead. The girl only came up to his shoulders and was annoying for as long as he could remember. But he knew better than to piss her off. Nekya could probably break his legs in the middle of the road and no one would bat an eye.

“Nek, I’ve some work. I’m serious.”

“Come on you are selling yourself short, you know. Why are you settling for a job at a spell-testing factory -” her eyes went round and quickly corrected herself, “Um… or wherever else you were going”

Alex blinked in surprise. His brows furrowed and he pursed his lips. She knew where he was going!

Of course, for someone of her stature, it meant nothing to get find out about it. But it did not mean he had to like it. More importantly, she looked into him before coming to meet him today. This, definitely, was not a chance encounter.

“Fine, I’m sorry, okay! I came ‘cause I need your help,” Nekya winced, realizing her slip-up. She added with a shrug, “But honestly, a spell-testing job?”

“Not everyone’s a God, Nekya. It’s not like I have a choice.” Alex said. A job at the spell-testing factory wasn’t anything fancy, but he wasn’t going to stand here taking her condescension. At least it had decent pay and he would keep expanding his mana reserves every day.

As he said that, he saw Nekya stretch her elbow. But before he could move an inch, the jab hit his arm.

“Don’t call me a God. You know I hate that.”

Alex pursed his lips. “Fine, goddess Nek-” he started when another jab struck his arm.

“No!” Nekya frowned, threatening with her elbow ready.

Alex shook his head and relented. There was no winning here, he knew for a fact. He raised his arm in defeat.

“Okay, okay. Worlder Mage Nekya,” he said. The light finally turned green and he added, “But I can’t help you. I need this job.”

Alex started crossing the road. He did not see Nekya follow anymore and let out a sigh of relief. It was not every day that people dared to say no to a Worlder! Alex was proud of himself.

So what if he was not a Worlder; he was still a mage. So what if he only earned in manacoins. At least he still had his pride.

“I’m not asking you to do it for free. It’s a job offer, and I’ll pay” Nekya’s voice carried over from the side of the road. “I will pay for Leycrals.”

Alex stopped. He turned around and walked to her side. This was an offer hard to refuse.

“Are you serious?”

“Why should I lie?” she replied with a shrug and grinned.

Alex looked up at the grey clouds overhead. On the one hand, he could get a steady job. Was his pride really worth more than a Leycral? So what if he had to sacrifice something. At least he would still have a roof over his head. More importantly, he could use the Leycrals to train as well!

A second passed, he looked back at Nekya with a nod “Okay fine. But I want to know what the job is first.”

If this was a genuine job, he was more than willing to take it. But there were countless gossips about Worlders and their weird… eccentricities.

“Of course,” Nekya giggled with a wide smile. She threw another punch at his arm and said, “I knew I could trust you.”

***

The two mages sat across each other at the table. But while Alex was beaming, Nekya had an unamused frown etched on her face.

“Stop that, will you!” Nekya spoke in a low voice, smacking his hand away. The ceramic bowl in Alex’s hand slipped, wobbling on the table before settling down.

The restaurant was only a fifteen minutes’ ride away in her car. But they had not even got to discuss the job. The Sprawling Dragon was the most luxurious place he had ever stepped into and Alex was completely distracted by the splendour of the place.

The walls were lined with Illusionary Arrays making the paintings come to life! The room had some temperature-control construct which kept the place cosy as a cool summer morning. Even the waiters wore rune stitched uniforms and the guards to the place were mages stronger than him! The food must have been excellent as well, but Alex couldn’t tell. The steak and cold coffee were entire left untouched. “There are heating-runes on the plates and cooling-ward on the glasses!” Alex whispered, ignoring his companion. He pointed at the utensils excitedly.

“I know people here,” Nelya pouted, and kicked him under the table. “You’re making me look like a fool!”

Alex groaned at the flaring pain. He glared. “You said there are privacy wards here.”

He recalled it was she who dragged him to a restaurant insisting that she wanted to talk in someplace private!

“That’s not how privacy wards work, dumbass! They can still see you ogling the plates and cups and napkins!” she said, rolling her eyes.

Alex sat up straight and looked around cautiously. “I didn’t even touch the napkins,” he said scratching his nose sheepishly.

Nekya pursed her lips. She sat with her arms crossed and frowned silently.

“Fine! I’m sorry. I thought you meant isolation ward,” Alex relented grinning foolishly. He asked, “How can I help you?”

Nekya sighed. She leaned forward on her table she forced a smile, “I’m losing my world.”

“Oh,” Alex said with a raised eyebrow. He wasn’t sure how to reply.

Alex wasn’t a Worlder, but he knew it was devastating for most mages to lose their worlds. But Gods lost control of their worlds every day. Disease, rival gods, and locals’ revolt – it was easier to win a world than keep it. So Nekya losing her world was hardly anything newsworthy.

But a scion of a noble house, Nekya could probably just get another one.

“Yeah. It’s a Tier III world too. The locals were humanoids as well – that’s always a plus,” Nekya said shaking her head. “They’re still squeamish about worshipping a God that can talk. But you can’t have everything, right?”

Alex sat there, trying to keep up. He knew the words coming out of her mouth but had no idea what she meant. Actual information about planets and worlds were quite scarce.

But he kept a straight face.

“You get what you get,” he made a non-committal message with a straight face.

“Anyway the thing is,” Nekya said leaning forward. She placed her elbows on the table and head on her palms. “Father doesn’t know I have this World. It’s kind of a secret purchase.”

‘So she bought another World as a side project,’ Alex thought with a frown. He was getting concerned where this was going.

Nekya looked at her plate, the fork in her hand twirling the food. She spoke in a barely audible tone, “The thing is I only have two out of the three Leypoints under control. And if these locals manage to take over my city, I won’t have control of the world anymore.”

“That will hit your Leycral income,” Alex guessed. He knew Leycral came from the mines in the Ley Points in every world. There were so many explosive battles that took place to control Leypoints, it was impossible to hide it.

“Exactly,” Nekya nodded. “But I have to spend a ton of coin to go capture the city again! I can’t ask other Worlder for help. They will betray me the first chance they get, bloody profiteers.”

Alex narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms. He didn’t make any comment about the hypocrisy in her words.

“Why don’t you hire a few mercenaries,” he suggested. Mercenaries were one of the most lucrative professions among mages, proficient in combat, they were often part of planetary-expeditions.

“The thing is I’ve run out of money,” Nekya chuckled softly, “I can’t ask Father for more without telling him what I want the money for either.”

Alex clenched his jaw. He was doubting the words he heard.

“I just need to hold onto the city for two weeks. Hell, let the city get ruined. Just the Leypoint will do.”

Alex pushed his chair back and plastered a smile on his face, “Well, all the best. I’m sure you’ll make it. And thanks for the meal-”

He wasn’t going to get into any of this mess. It was well above his paygrade and much more difficult than anything he was qualified for.

“Help me keep the city for two weeks,” Nekya spoke hurriedly. “I want you to manage my world.”

***

Excerpt from Archmage Alister Ericston’s Diaries: Native Beasts and Exotic Plants, Vol. 9 Arbrewood Library

Chapter 21: The Last Expedition

Day 9

The locals call the green jelly-like thing a slime. It is one of the few mana-absorbing creatures on this planet. A few local tribes seem to have declared it as their Rulers. They follow the Slime in the direction that it travels and if they stumble across another tribe, they deem it 'the will of the Ruler' that they must war…

Day 22

The strange Slime-creature seem to assimilate whatever it eats. Yesterday I fed it a helmet – its membrane seems to have hardened...

Day 116

The Slime Lord has assimilated all the mages. It has assembled an army of Slime. All the local casters are dead as well. Classify it as a Level VI creature

It was a mistake to…

[Archmage Alister Ericston has not been heard from since. In the year 8102, she was deemed to be dead.]