After learning that all the other Gods were currently in ‘power saving mode’, I took my time in explaining the situation I was in to this beautiful godly doll. One might really think that she was not alive if not for the ever-changing expressions on her face in reaction to different things in my story. The same thing which by the way, made her more approachable, when compared with the beauty with the olden speech that entered my domain some moments ago.

Speaking of which, didn’t her manner of talking changed too fast? Anyway… when explaining different things to her about my past, I kept some hidden… like how I died for example…

[Amazing…] – She whispered

“Is it?”

[Yes it is! This never happened before and I can no longer see the future either. That’s so…](A)

“I’m sorry, what!?”

[…thrilling!](A)

Aha… Finally, I can puzzle this God’s personality together: probably something of a loner due to her nature and since there’s only one of her kind with me, pretty much implies that there are no other Gods of Time, further proving that she’s alone in her ‘field of practice’. Also, since she can see the future, she has probably lived a rather boring existence and the prospect that uncertainty brings, is both interesting and tempting for her. Not to mention exciting. She’s the perfect description of a child with no friends, bored out of her mind of the existing toys she owns…

[Hmm? Why are you looking at me like you’ve seen a truly pitiable creature!?](A)

Oops! It showed on my face again… I really need to work on my poker face. Change of subject, NOW!

“Miss Aethr… Ahet… Eh?”

[Is it really that hard to pronounce?](A)

“To my embarrassment… just a bit. Would Eternity be alright?”

[I guess…](Eternity)

“Great! Do you plan to accompany me through the creation of Midgard?”

[Wow… Is that the name you chose?](Eternity)

“Indeed. Do you find it unsuitable?”

[Quite on the contrary, I find it interesting. As a human God yourself, the Norse mythical realm of humans fits the bill perfectly.](Eternity)

“Thank you… I think…. So, what do you plan to do?”

[Well, everything else is frozen except for this place. So I’ll stick around in your divine domain and watch you work.](E)

The fact that she said that last part with a resplendent smile on that beautiful face of hers, didn’t help the still screaming ‘corporate espionage’ ringing in my ears. But there were also some other words that came to mind…

“Divine domain? What exactly does it refer to? This ‘room’ we’re in?”

[I guess you can put it that way. In a more complex way to explain it, the entire space you call a ‘room’, is a self-sustained universe that’s dependent of the nature your divinity shows.] (E)

“Its nature?”

[Hmm…did you read what sort of effect your Influence has on the world?](E)

“Yes. It gives a percentage chance of newly born souls to start at LvL 3 refinement. Kind of geniuses in realms I can assign as I see fit.”

[…wow! That’s a bit… unfair, isn’t it? Anyway, the same influence is assigned to your divine area, affecting the type of missions and rewards you’ll get. In my case, I might get a mission that has a time-limit for example, or a reward that would allow me to change and/or upgrade the soul refinement of some people, therefore altering their fates. In yours, they might look random with just one glance, however they will build into a web of probabilities that only you can see. Even I find that mesmerizing…](E)

“Yeah… it sounds….delightful. So then Eternity, I guess I should get started.”

[Right, right! What do you want to do first?](E)

Seeing the ‘a tad too exited’ Goddess raring to have a go at building MY world, made me fantasize about taking her as my wife... She might have the personality of a child, but that body definitely doesn’t belong to one. Actually I should commend myself from not jumping the said Goddess and being turned into stardust as a result. High-five me!

“Right… well, the achievement store opened up just before you arrived and…”

[It did what? How? Mine is still… yeah, still locked…](E)

“Huh? How did you check?”

[I just brought up the management interface of my world. Oh right, since you went with the Norse theme, maybe I should also… Hehe! Yup, let’s change it to… Muspelheim! There we go!](E)

Watching her make the adjustment to the name of an entire world (in a rather willful, fickle and thought-lacking manner if I might add), I saw the same type of user interface window I had. There doesn’t seem to be differences, so equality at the starting line is guaranteed…huh!?

“Wasn’t that name the name of the realm in which demons reside?”

[Yup! I was rather apprehensive at first about picking the demon race once the game begins and wanted to go only with humans, but I’ve changed my mind. I wonder how they fare in battle and if…](E)

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Back up a bit! What do you mean ‘picking once the game begins’?”

[Oh, right! You went ‘manual’ so you can’t see it yet. Once the world can sustain sentient life, you can select which race you want to inhabit your world. You have only two options to choose between, one which is always the human race and the second is randomly assigned depending on what type of environment you create. From what I remember you can also purchase other races using achievement points, but those are randomly generated, as well expensive as hell… so you have pretty much no choice in the matter. In my case, demons are the race I got, but I didn’t picked them up from the achievement store yet, since is still locked. How can you use it?](E)

“Because I went ‘manual’ I guess. Here, take a look!”

Moving the still opened assistant’s window description in front of her, I took the time to arrange the extra information I got from this beautiful Goddess in my head.

Thinking back to the ‘demo’ the game God had me try out, multiple races coexisted on Ahnur, therefore meaning that it is possible to buy them and have more than two as well. But they were also separated from humans back then, meaning that it will be hard to get them to mix together, especially because of the humans which are stupidly racist to begin with.

I mean, an interracial war will have tons of casualties which will drop the daily SP amount I get for sure, not to mention it would impede the technological and cultural advancement… Having that early on would be catastrophic…

“Yup, I’ve decided! No humans for Midgard.”

[Eh? But it’s Midgard, you know… Realm of humans and all that.](E)

“Yeah, but I don’t like the human character in general, so if I have the choice I’d rather avoid having them.”

[You do remember that they will still be human souls, even if they impersonate other races, right?](E)

“Ugh… forgot about that… Anyway, let’s get started shall we?”

Confirm purchase of Manual mode assistant in exchange for 100AP:

Yes /No

[Hit ‘yes’, hit ‘yes’!](E)

“Pfft! Okay, okay! Here, I selected ‘yes’…”

[Mhm! Oh… OH! Don’t treat me like a child!!! I’m the oldest god in existence you know!?] (A)

“Hahaha! My bad, my bad okay! Huh? The window disappeared…”

[Is not in the Achievement Store anymore either. Was it a trap?](E)

“Surely that’s not the case… Right?”

[Dunno! This is entirely new ground for me as well. You know, not using my powers because I can’t anymore and all that stuff…](E)

Booting complete!

Extracting…. Assistant successfully extracted in the divine domain of player Michael Corbett!

Installing…

Both myself and the Goddess of Time and Fate were starring with our mouths agape at the pop-up window which automatically closed all others.

Leaving aside the fact that it sounded like installing a program on a computer (which I hoped was not a virus), the huge green window which was bigger than the planet and almost acting as a fifth wall in my divine domain, kept flashing through the installation process.

[It sounds like installing a virus on a computer…](E)

“Can you please not say out loud what I don’t even want to think about!? I’d personally prefer to avoid a ‘Game Over’ before even beginning. Also, the description said that it provides tips and tricks, so it might come in handy both in the beginning and later down the road. Let’s see what it does, given that I spent 100AP on it. Look, it’s done ‘installing’.”

[If your domain gets infected and doesn’t work anymore, you can come over to mine as a guest.](E)

“Thanks… I guess… Please don’t jinx it though…”

Installation complete!

Recognizing Michael Corbett as owner!

Scanning for personal preferences before undertaking corporeal form…

A green light bathed me from head moving down to my toes, almost like a huge scanner and then immediately moved onto the stupefied Eternity which didn’t even have time to squeal. Also, I had a really, really, REALLY bad feeling about this.

And just in time to prove me right, a holographic projection materialized before the two of us. How do I describe this… the best way would be a miniature version of Eternity at about 1.40 centimeters, but her hair was red and the eyes were blue, reminding me of a certain me-killer.

I stiffly turned my head around and looked at Eternity which was smiling at a naked child-version of herself, which made me feel like my HP was draining away at a really fast pace.

“If I could explain, I would. But I have no idea what’s happening…”

[It looks that way, doesn’t it?](E)

“You… you’re not angry?”

[Eh? Why? I mean, look at how cute she is! But I didn’t know you had this sort of ‘preferences’…](E)

“I don’t!”

No, really! I don’t! Is just that I kept thinking about how childlike this Goddess is and about how cute it would be for her to actually be one. I really don’t want to go to the Jail of Gods… that sounds scary as hell!

Before any other thoughts, the outstandingly cute-up-to-the-point-of-inducing-diabetes child stood in between us and grabbed my hand. I was about to ‘aww’, until she actually electrocuted me continuously for about five minutes.

As for the purpose, I could tell that she was literally taking out information out of my brain in order to supply her already vast knowledge, while also giving me a few inklings about how to handle her.

“Your name?”

[Yes master! My name is Manual Interface Assistant.]

“I see. Then Mia will suffice from now on. Can you please put on some clothes please?”

[Yes master!](Mia)

The look in Eternity’s eyes suddenly got a couple degrees colder…

“Ugh… it’s not like that okay!? Mia, can you please explain to the beautiful lady next to me what you are?”

[Yes master! In order to assist players in finding the right path on their journey through the creation of a new world, a database containing the entire knowledge accumulated on Earth has been compiled.](Mia)

“Or in other words, she’s an…”

[…AI, an artificial intelligence program. I see. And the appearance?](E)

Turning to me with that question, I had no way around the actual answer… They say, the truth will set you free, but I was scared that it might free me of my life instead.

“If I’d venture a guess, the looks are because I think you’re drop-dead gorgeous, the height because I think you have a childish personality, while the hair and the eyes… they belong to a person that apparently also left a huge impact on my subconscious.”

[Oho… Is that so… I think you might have an extra story you’re not telling me, but that’s fine. I’m a patient Goddess.](E)

“Ha..haha….”

I let out a dry laugh while remembering that she’s the Goddess of Time and looked down to the newly dress ‘Mia’. She was wearing a white one-piece dress and a summer orange summer hat, which was stupidly cute when one saw her flaming hair.

For an AI she looked unnecessarily adorable!

“Ahem! Right… Mia, you’re supposed to help me right? What should I do next?”

[Yes master! Initializing the world creation chain missions!](Mia)

Another green flash flickered through the domain and a huge green pop-up window appeared yet again.

Mission one initialized: Temperature

Space is a harsh place and life is a delicate thing. The first step towards habitability is achieving a stable, survivable temperature.

This will be measured in miliKelvins, or 1/1000 of a Kelvin degree.

By this scale, 273.000mK is considered freezing and 373.000mK is boiling hot, while Earth itself has an average temperature of 287.000mK.

Your goal is to achieve the same temperature as Earth, in order to stabilize and sustain life.

Reward: Unknown