Game On: A World Reborn

"Hahahahaa! I've done it! I, the Supreme God Emperor, have reshaped the world into a video game! Ahahahaa!" 

Smack!

"Ow! Who dares assault me!? I am the Supre—!"

Smack!

"Would you shut up already? I've asked you to stop your rambling a hundred times now! Go clean the tables, or I'll break your legs, you worthless little shit!"

"Argh!" A somewhat dirty-looking young man lay groaning in pain as he clutched the back of his head on the floor of what appeared to be a restaurant that had yet to open its doors, as they were still setting up in the early morning.

This young man went around rambling like a lunatic about turning the world into a 'Video Game.' Everyone thought this was likely some form of madness caused by the strange phenomenon that shocked the entire world a few years ago when strange translucent screens appeared before the eyes of every living being in the world, with a message printed on it that read, [Welcome to the Game.]

The young man stopped groaning on the floor and stood up, while dusting his patchwork-covered robes off. "These pesky mortals, they have no idea what I have done for them! Look at this wondrous system that I molded with my bare hands for them!" As he rambled on some more, a blue translucent screen appeared before his eyes.

He pressed his finger against the word [Status]

"Grr! I should have erased those damned wandering souls' egos. How dare they mock me!?" The young man—Liang Wu—grumbled about wandering souls or some such nonsense, and picked up a rag off a nearby table to begin cleaning up before they opened the restaurant for business in an hour.

As he wiped down the tables, blue shimmering letters could be seen floating above his head, the letters seemed to match what was on the status screen where it showed Nickname. The letters spelled out [Supreme God Emperor]

The man who had just smacked Liang Wu in the back of the head a few moments ago looked over at him from behind a bar counter on the other side of the restaurant. "Damn it, Liang Wu! Hide that ugly Nickname, disable your display name option or display your real name!" The man yelled.

Liang Wu glanced over at the man and could see blue letters above his head that spelled out. [Lao Ban] which was likely to be the man's name.

Liang Wu grumbled under his breath. "If this was a few years ago, before I sealed away my cultivation, I could erase you from existence with but a mere thought." Despite his grumbling, the letters above his head shifted and now read. [Liang Wu]

Damn! I shouldn’t have decided to do away with all of my cultivation and left myself with nothing but this unageing clone body, I had thought that if I had an unageing body I would be more like a video game character. I had forgotten in the millenniums I had spent since I had stopped being mortal how agonizing it was to be powerless. Now I’m stuck here in this shitty place, having to do menial tasks to earn money. Liang Wu was lost in his thoughts as he cleaned the tables across the restaurant. 

As it turns out, this young man wasn’t quite the raving lunatic everyone thought he was. He was actually the God who had turned this once normal world of cultivation into a world in which everyone now possessed video game-esque status screens and needed to earn experience points to level up.

Once I earn enough money to take a carriage to a larger city, I can find a Sect to join temporarily so that I may begin cultivating again. Whichever AI had the idea to lock cultivation behind a tutorial Quest is a real asshole! I knew I shouldn’t have created those AIs to manage the governing systems of the world! With the end of that thought, he had finished cleaning the tables and he started to head to the supplies room in the back of the restaurant to get a bucket and mop to clean the floors.

As he walked to the back he spoke aloud. “Quest Screen!” And another blue translucent screen appeared before his eyes again, however this screen displayed different contents then the first.

He waved his hand and the screen vanished into thin air. He had arrived at the supplies room and grabbed the bucket and the mop. There was a barrel of water in the corner, which he used to fill the bucket. “Quest Screen!” He called out once more.

“Ugh, nearly done. Once I get paid, I'll have enough for a carriage to the nearest city. I hope to myself (God) that they have even the smallest of Sects.”

“You're visiting the nearest city? Would you mind if I tag along with you?” Another young man had at some point, unknown to Liang Wu, appeared behind him.

Liang Wu turned and glanced at the young man behind him. The first thing he noticed was the blue letters above the young man's head. [Bing Bing] is what it said. “Ah, I see you've taken my advice, Bing An, or should I call you Bing Bing now? Haha!”

“Yeah, you said that a real gamer should use a Nickname. However I couldn't think of one as cool as yours. By the way, why are you displaying your real name?”

“Hm, hm. Tell you what, if you take this bucket and mop, and you clean the floors for me, I'll take you with me tomorrow. How does that sound?” Liang Wu said one thing but thought another. Haha! I can use this sucker to complete my quest while I relax. Now that is a true gamer move! Hahaha!

“You'll really take me!?”

“Sure!” Liang Wu smiled in a warm and friendly manner.