While I do try to find any and every excuse to procrastinate, when I actually got into the zone, I studied very well!
And luckily enough, I had gotten into the zone at that very moment.
Yes! I felt fired up! I would study the entire syllabus to-
-DING-
I looked at my mobile phone.
It had probably only been a few minutes since I had grabbed my textbook.
I was really getting into the zone too.
But… just what could that notification be about?
Was it a message the government sent warning about a disaster…? Were monsters currently spouting out of wormholes all around the world?
Was it a message sent by a demon, willing to make a contract with me?
Was it a notification for a message a super hot CEO sent, expressing his boundless love for me?
Man. I really had to stamp down on the amount of webnovels I was consuming.
I was now infinitely curious, which caused the tiny critic in my head and the lazy demon in my head to begin battling it out for dominance.
‘What if your a character in a dungeon novel, and that message allows you to choose a class? Are you really willing to suffer for years to come, leave this regret to eat away at you till your eventual death, giving your future self an opportunity to cry in her deathbed, wondering why she couldn’t take just a glimpse? A tiny glimpse shouldn’t hurt, right?’ A demon seemed to whisper into my ear, seducing me to grab my phone.
My hands began itching. I couldn’t focus on the book in front of me any longer and was about to grab my phone-
‘Are you really addicted to your phone? You had scoffed to your mom that you weren’t addicted to your phone just yesterday. That aside, do you really think you’re in a goddamn webnovel? Is your self control this weak?’
The tiny critic in my head began criticizing me to no end.
But it was too late.
The demon had already seduced me through and through.
I grabbed my phone and looked at the notification.
It seemed my favorite video maker had released a new video!
‘One small video won’t hurt, right?’
***
Half an hour later.
“Ehehehehehe.” I giggled while watching my second video.
-DING-
‘Ooh, the game finally finished downloading!’ I muttered happily and closed the video site. I was just getting slightly bored too, so this was perfect timing!
I opened the game.
An exquisite logo, made up of the word ‘Harmony’ flashed past my screen.
A cutscene began playing.
Three planets were shown, right next to each other.
A male voice began narrating gently, a tinge of melancholy present in his voice.
“Three worlds.
Countless lives.
The fate of the entire Eri constellation.
It shall all lie on you, dear godling.
Help the progenitors. Help them achieve what they dream of.
I give you my most sincere blessings, godling. While it may not seem like much, my blessings shall make your life much more comfortable.“
The voice was quite soothing. It made me feel completely relaxed, and made me instinctively tear up, like it had fulfilled desires of mine I never knew I had.
…Why the hell was I even crying?
I sniffled and wiped my eyes, tapping on the screen that had stagnated onto a closeup of the three planets. I felt quite incredulous, yet strangely attached to this game I hadn’t even started playing.
The voiceover continued narrating as the image changed to a scene of the three planets crashing into each other.
“If you fail, godling, the three worlds shall collapse into each other.
It’s residents shall see hell that they never even dreamed of.“
The voiceover muttered one last line before ending the introduction.
“Be careful, and take care of your mental health, godling.”
‘Well, that’s quite the thoughtful thing to say. Mental health issues are quite rampant after all.’
My impression of the game became slightly more positive.
A pop up covered my phone’s screen.
[The three game worlds will be temporally equal with the real world while you deliver this divine assignment. That is, if one minute passes in the game worlds, one minute passes in the real world. This can be changed in the settings.]‘Ooh. Okay.’ I thought while tapping on the screen.
The words ‘World One’ appeared on my screen in a beautiful font.
I tapped on my screen again.
A cutscene began once more.
A girl that was only bones was leaning onto the wall. Her eyes had no focus, and she seemed to be on the brink of death. Her hair was so messy that one would need to put great effort to figure out that it’s color was pink.
The man who narrated in the previous scene began narrating again.
“The girl you see in front of you is Adelle, an orphan. She is currently on the brink of death due to starvation.
Go to the shop if you want to save her.“
“Hah.” I sighed. But of course, all mobile games would be pay to win.
I clicked on the shop icon that had appeared after the voiceover ended.
Pay to win games try to enchant players before slowing their progress down. I could enjoy it till it becomes a drag.
I looked at the various sections and the rows of options within them. I clicked on ‘Food’ and looked at the options I could buy.
Except for two, all of them were grey.
Well, that was to be expected. I had just started playing the game.
I clicked on one of the grey options out of sheer curiosity, wanting to see how much money they were charging.
[Divine Power is not sufficient. Keep up the good work and gain more, Godling.]…Where’s the option to buy divine power…?
Aren’t pay to win games supposed to remind you that you could pay for progress every opportunity they get?
I tapped on the screen to close the pop up. Probably prompted by it, another box had appeared on the upper left of my screen behind the shop icon.
[DP: 1 (Blessed Human)]I clicked on the box, thinking that that would open the in app purchases. I wasn’t interested in actually spending money, of course, I was just quenching my inquisitive nature.
There was no response.
I shrugged and chose the first option that was unlocked to me in the Food section, a bowl of soup.
A blue box popped up, with multiple options in it, like whether the soup was supposed to be hot or cold, and many other minute details that I could customize.
‘…These many options? They’re probably only for decorative purposes and won’t change the character’s reactions.’
I only changed the soup from hot to cold, and then clicked on ‘Proceed’ ignoring all other options.
Since the orphan probably had not eaten anything from quite some time, I felt a bowl of cold soup would be better to give than bread, the only other option unlocked to me.
A bowl of soup appeared in front of the orphan.
