Yes.

It was this feeling.

The hot pot of information mixed together. Time seemed to stop on the Internet.

The wanderlust satisfaction.

For people who are scared of real-world interaction, the Internet is a good hiding place.

It gave you the perspective of a traveler.

While it could hardly compare to the real deal, it was consolation to a certain extent.

The information sometimes fries your brain, but overall it’s good as a distraction.

Being immersed in the Internet was not something to be looked upon though.

They called you by many bad words if you were someone like that. I don’t like it either.

Playing games was fun, but sometimes I feel ashamed. It was the effect of social expectation.

Since you are a human, you are supposed to do what most humans do.

It is not a bad thing, or rather, it was the direct result of our evolution.

The ability to copy each other effectively was a major reason why our species still exist.

Parent monkeys would carry their children on their backs so that they could learn how to survive.

Monkey see, monkey do.

It could be reasoned as such.

Without associational activities, humans would die off a long time ago.

But would that apply to the modern world?

Since survival is not threatened and food is abundant, people are less obligated to mimic each other.

Social expectations become mainly a way to divide classes.

It also led others astray.

Subcultures sprang up everywhere, as a way to diverge from the main body of society.

Humans always yearn to be different.

We cannot bear to be the same as everyone else.

We want our own stories, our own legends.

That’s why there were crowns and tiaras.

We all strive to be considered a higher being than others.

But right now, standing in this vast ocean of information, I feel something fundamentally different.

Time dulled when you became a god, but that is not really a black and white thing.

My soul might get reshaped, and my memories were hazy, but I can confirm I still have the same feeling and emotions.

In a way, I’m no better than a human.

My universe and Earth’s universe are two separate entities with different time flows, so I could watch the end of Earth if I want.

But I won’t do that.

I died in the year 2021, so let’s keep Earth in that year.

Why?

Because I’m selfish.

Even though I did not fit in our society, that did not mean I abhor it.

I would still get excited on New Year's Eve, and I could enjoy a relative’s party too.

They are all social constructions.

As a god, these would be trivial as you’re supposed to be all-seeing and non-judgmental, but my soul is not one, so why should I?

Let’s be human and be selfish.

I bet the gods depicted in Greek Mythology are the true version of gods. 

They are even more human than the exemplary human.

Ancient Greeks are wise.

Anyway, I picked up something interesting on the Internet.

Not from a phone or a PC, but from my Inner Palace.

I could connect my god system to Earth’s internet, and use it like I normally would.

The IP would be a problem, and any government agent who discovered it would be sent into a cardiac arrest. But I saved him the trouble and properly masked it with a virtual private network.

I headed over to one of the major game distribution platforms, Speam. 

It was the same UI.

How nostalgic…

There are some new games compared to the last time I visited. But it was mostly the same.

No sign of a major, groundbreaking project. An idyllic scenery.

The perfect ground for me to stir it up.

Virtual reality technology has existed for quite a while, but it is mostly a device for experiencing novelty.

In other words, it’s nearly useless.

There are only one or two noticeable titles for VR, and they were not optimized either.

The user experience is a mess.

There have been signs that VR technology would fall just like in the 90s. Honestly, I have to share the same opinion.

It’s just not worth the investment.

VR companies are one touch away from a scam scheme.

But I have another design for this market.

It’s not important whether the public would be welcoming or not.

They all react the same way when a new thing comes out.

But once they get a taste of it, they will be the same as meth addicts asking for drugs.

Legal addicts, which is even worse than illegal ones.

This would be a wide stride, but I could only pray for my future consumers.

I have my stakes here too.

But to commence my project, it’s necessary to have some planting ground.

The VR companies are filthy scammers, but they have one exploitable trait.

They have a good public image.

Even if I put an amazing product on the shelf, it would be a problem if it came from a no-name brand.

Few people buy stuff from a no-name brand.

That’s the least of my problem, there is one with the hardware distribution too.

I could theoretically create a network that connects the players and functions like a game server. That would eliminate the need for dedicated hardware.

But to the people of Earth, that would be called ‘magic’.

And it took half a brain cell to know how much of an uproar this would cause.

Masking my system with hardware from a trusted company is a more reliable method.

No one wanted their heads to go ‘boom’ during a game session.

Or trapped indefinitely until they beat the game and its bazillion sequels.

If their head did go boom, it would be from an expensive piece of hardware from a billion-dollar company, not a suspicious third-world product.

With a major company like Octopus, things might go differently.

They only knew how to make money, but their voice in the market is strong.

They were the first to establish their name in the VR industry after all.

Their company could be the perfect puppet … doll for me to manipulate.

With only 10 power points, my influence is limited, but it’s more than enough to deal with mortals.

Especially in a non-magical world like Earth.

Maldea was at least 2,000,000 power points strong from my own pool.

Not to mention the extra power points it gathered during evolution.

It should be closer to 3,000,000.

The cost went down a lot on Earth.

 I could materialize my powerpoints into the hardware and it could never be reverse-engineered, since physics between the two universes is different.

Unless I allow it personally, no one should figure out a thing.

With the plan decided, I sneaked into the CEO of Octopus’s dream at night.

Yes, god cannot directly impact worlds, at least not in a flashy way.

No asteroid from the sky, giant tsunami or exploding volcano, nothing like that.

But influencing its citizen is different.

That’s the main method to deal with the mortal realm in mythologies too.

I whispered a few sweet things into his ears, and the next day, the man suddenly had a stroke of genius during lunch.

He wanted to form a new subsidiary company named ‘Universum LLC’, with a ‘Miss X’ as the president.

It’s literally ‘Miss X’.

No, it’s not because I haven’t figured out a name for myself yet.

And why a subsidiary company? Because I want some credits.

Octopus directors are scammers.

They don’t deserve the full credits.

The potential profits from my game are already too good for them.

I don’t intend to share with them a whole lot of it either. Earth money could not be converted into power points, so it’s useless to me.

But it might have some uses on Earth, so let’s keep 90% of the profits.

The next days were pretty straightforward.

The CEO held meetings, spoke about the project, and nobody believed him.

Of course they won’t.

Full-dive MMORPGs?

Did you just graduate from kindergarten?

Go back home and draw with crayons.

But he is the CEO, and I did something to the other board directors too.

They all made up a story about a super-secret project that was only revealed now, and no one but the top of the top knew about it.

Development had been going for years, and it was only now that it’s ready for mass consumption.

Even their previous products were only a money-making front for this super-secret project too.

Still, no one bought the story.

But all the top brass said the same thing, so as diligent employees with great benefits, they could only grumble and go back to work.

Sorry, everyone.

It’s for the greater good.

I silently lit a candle for all the overtime workers.

Octopus are dirty scammers, but that’s only the executives.

Their engineers and artists are the cream of the crop.

With detailed instructions on how to make a pseudo-VR pod I myself designed (which had no real use whatsoever), the engineering team quickly assembled their company machine and went into mass production.

Still, with my limited power points, I only allowed 500 pods to be produced.

The bodies are cheap, but I’m too proletarian to shoot for a massive audience.

Only valuable people who would propel the game can be chosen for now.

The artist team, at the same time, pulled out inhuman overtimes to design everything for a grand marketing campaign, from posters to avatars to background and in-game music.

And they said humans are the only intelligent beings on Earth.

Those overtimes could make them an alien.

I solemnly lit a second candle for all my workers.