"No seriously. What the hell is a system?"
"Ugh, okay. So basically, it's this dumb trope that was popular on Earth—at least in my timeline. All I'm asking is that you try to recreate it. Simple enough."
Two beings stood face to face, one confused and the other frustrated—never a good combination, considering they were casually strolling inside a supermassive black hole. And the one getting more irritated happened to be a being of immense power and authority.
Not that the other was a pushover. He, too, was a Godking—the second-highest rank on the cosmic power scale, a being capable of surviving death and ruling entire civilizations with a glance.
These two in particular were the Godkings of Fire and Spiritual Engineering. In simpler terms: the richest, and the most hot-headed.
"Oscar, what you're asking for is simple enough to build," the second man said as he continued their surreal walk deeper into the black hole, "but such a weak device won't suit your needs."
Why they were here? Who knows.
Oscar, a former human from Earth and now the Fire Progenitor and Godking of Fire, glanced at his friend. Sev wasn't born on Earth, but he came from the same galaxy. A five-thousand-year difference between their civilizations—and the fact that Sev came from a different timeline—felt irrelevant to beings like them.
"Look, Sev, I'm just asking for a reincarnation system. Something that'll preserve my life and restore my powers if I die unexpectedly." Oscar chuckled like it wasn't a big deal.
It was a big deal. Bringing a Godking back from death was absolutely insane.
Sev, however, thrived in insanity.
"I'm going to ignore your disrespect for the dead," Sev replied dryly, "and tell you this now: it will cost you."
Oscar shot him a knowing look. Beings of immeasurable power were impossible to read—billions of thoughts ran through their minds at any moment.
"Your greed is notorious, Sev. You and I both know you'll charge me ten thousand times the market price for this. I'm not having it."
Still, the two continued walking, communicating telepathically, fully aware that this negotiation was going to get ugly.
Sev just kept up his salesman act—if such beings even existed.
"Then consider the ingredients the payment. You fetch them, and I'll build your little toy. Win-win."
Oscar snorted. "What exactly do you want?"
Sev grinned. "Energy. A lot of it. So… I'll need the star cores of one thousand fully matured stars, and ten thousand newborn star cores. Easy for you, fire boy."
Oscar scoffed. The karmic backlash alone could doom him. But he knew this wasn't even the real price.
"And?" he asked.
"You'll have to kill paragons. As many as possible. A million, give or take."
Even Oscar faltered at that. Not because the task was difficult, but because paragons were rare. Finding a million was possible; getting away with killing them was the real challenge. Many were protected by Godkings desperate to elevate their offspring.
Not that Oscar feared them. He had slain five Godkings before—permanently erased two.
Still…
"No killing Godkings unless you can give them permanent death," Sev added.
"I didn't say anything," Oscar muttered, cheeks heating.
Sev smirked. "Next, you'll need essence from the First Universe. I suggest speaking with The First Soul."
Oscar froze mid-air. Speaking with the first living being in all of infinity, then asking him for essence from the first universe? Insanity.
"Sev, I told you I wanted to keep this quiet. Nobody can know."
Sev rolled his eyes. "It's called a negotiation. He doesn't need to know. Besides, if you pretend you're using it for something mundane—say, an invisibility cloak—we'll be fine. I'll even make you one. For a fee, of course."
Oscar glared at him.
This shameless thief…
But it was a good idea, he had to admit.
"What else do you need?" he asked reluctantly.
Sev's shoulders shook—he was trying not to laugh.
Finally, he said it.
"A shard of the Akashic Records."
Oscar nearly turned around and left. Sev burst into telepathic laughter.
"Relax. I already have a lead on one. You won't have to steal it or break off another piece. You're so dramatic."
Dramatic? It was a shard of the Akashic Records—the greatest repository of every thought, memory, and law in infinity. It was carved from the soul-core of the First Universe itself. Removing another piece would likely collapse all creation.
But sure, he was being dramatic.
"And why do you need it?" Oscar asked.
"Language barrier."
Oscar froze again. Use the Akashic Records—one of the most coveted items in creation—for translation?!
Sev cackled. "Kidding. Mostly. It'll help translate languages, yes, but more importantly, it'll act as a guide. Levels, skills, quests—rewards. You know, the stuff you humans love."
Oscar had mentioned the "system trope" centuries ago. A joke turned into a method of resurrection—and conquest.
He even asked if the system could be shared with his wives. Sev agreed… conveniently forgetting to mention there was no guarantee they'd be reborn as the same gender. Or species.
"So why bring us here?" Oscar finally asked.
"Honestly? I thought we'd reach it by now. Oh—there it is."
They drifted closer. Space and time warped violently around them—but at the center sat a small crystalline diamond.
Oscar assumed it was a compressed mass of planets swallowed over eons. Sev corrected him.
"This is the shard," Sev said. "It used to be the size of an entire dwarven galaxy. Now it's perfect."
They stared at it, then agreed to leave it for now and erase their memories. Sev would erase the memory of discovering it too—again.
Unfortunately, Sev was not as clever as he thought. He didn't account for one fact:
The First Soul had written this shard off as destroyed.
The moment Oscar and Sev gathered their ingredients and caused a cosmic uproar, the shard instinctively reconnected with its progenitor. The First Universe sensed Oscar's visit and assumed everything was tied to that event.
It didn't realize the shard was never truly restored.
And that ignorance was the only reason Oscar and Sev were still alive.
For now.
When The First Soul finally manifested, the truth would unravel—and everything they'd built would crumble.
And so, they ran.
"I knew I was going to die," Oscar gasped, "but I didn't expect you to follow after me, Sev."
The two sprinted across collapsing spacetime. Their massacre had drawn attention. Everyone realized Sev had been commissioned by Oscar. Many believed it was a front for a catastrophic plot.
Fortunately, Sev had gathered enough ingredients to craft several more systems—some as powerful, or even more powerful, than Oscar's.
Greedy bastard always kept the best for himself.
Worse, Sev created trillions of additional systems and scattered them across the cosmos. Each one coated in the essence of the First Universe, impossible for paragons to analyze. They would appear as broken spiritual artifacts at most.
"Good working with you, Oz."
"You too, man. See you on the other side."
They shook hands—something no sane Godking would do—and imploded their qi cores.
The explosion was silent. No remains, no souls—only two divine cores, hidden even from the First Soul.
All excess spiritual energy, qi, and raw cosmic matter was funneled forward through time—millions of years into the future.
Just far enough to escape the First Soul's grasp.
Just in time to grant a young man the knowledge of the universe.
After all, the best place to hide a treasure… is beneath a pile of trash.
Or in this case, within a B-rank planetary reincarnation system.
No one in their right mind would destroy a sentient planet, right?
…Right?