He was the greatest hacker who ever lived. He was so skillful that despite hacking 90% of the world’s networks no one was aware of his existence. No, they knew him, not as a hacker, but as the greatest programmer ever lived.
Today he completed his masterpiece. His magnum opus. The A^A Operating system.
It was a piece of software that he began developing 10 years ago after getting stabbed in the back by his best friend who stole his life’s work and claimed it as his own.

Using this software, the most primitive low-budget computer could perform as fast as the best supercomputer which cost millions of dollars. It was so amazing that it grabbed the attention of all the world's top experts and governments.
After finishing his project, as any selfless software engineer would do, he gave it away for free. All of it, the source code, the diagrams, the ideas, everything. He even gave them some dirty tissues that had some scribbles on them under the…..

And as usually happened all he got in return was a pat on the back, which he accepted with a naive smile for the camera.
This was not his first great work, there were three before it. And each time someone else would take all the credit and he would be left with the scraps. That’s if he got lucky. That’s what he would get for being a good guy!

But not anymore. He laughed madly as he saw how the world was amazed by his software, they had no idea that this software was a Trojan that allowed its creator to control the entire world.

As he expected. Soon, many skeptics emerged and began to examine every line of his code looking for a fault, a backdoor, or a virus. Anything that they can uncover to discredit him. As that software crippled most of the high-tech industry. New parts are no longer needed when a toaster can run the latest Crysis and GTA games… Moore's law made no sense anymore!
After one year of trials, all the skeptics surrendered. This code was simply too perfect. Nature magazine has described it as a flawless work of art that would start a new era!

That's what they said to fool the public anyway. The truth was that all of the scientists were too embarrassed to admit that they couldn’t understand even one line of it. How did this damn thing work?

Every expert believed that the others understood it, and acted as if he did too. So it led to a bizarre situation where nobody dared to admit their inadequacy.

Soon, many Ph.D. students around the globe changed course and began to study it for their dissertations. They didn’t get the chance to publish anything though…

That day, he was busy setting his pieces for the world domination plan. Everything was in place, as everything on earth began to use his software… everything had it from missile systems to toasters!
It’s not that the army was stupid, but the technological advantage it gave was so profound that they couldn't afford to stay behind.
All he needed now was to activate its perfectly hidden backdoor and gain control over everything. From the stock markets to the defense systems around the world... He will be the hidden emperor of the world very soon.

He was laughing madly when the earth shook, the sky turned black, and everything went silent.
Too bad for him…The world ended that night at exactly 11:32 PM.
…

 

 

He had an ethereal body, floating in the void with a shimmering screen in front of him. Mocking him.
It took him some time to understand what was going on.

The world was devoured? Higher plane? New world?
He was stunned!

After a while, the ideas settled in. Is this like those lousy online novels he used to read? If he knew those were real he would have donated more to the Authors!

He frowned as he read the available options.
What the f*ck, was his plan to control the world really that bad.
Only 10 Karma left? And all of that’s thanks to a coupon?
What with all of these options?

The system seemed to have deemed that he was a worthless cause. A Slug? A Fly? Are these his only options?
He just wanted to ignore the system and cry in despair… But watching the countdown he didn’t dare to.
Strangely enough, and maybe due to his lack of a physical body, he could think very clearly despite his distress.
What should he choose?

If he chose to be a goblin he would have only one point for the stats. So he would have to choose to be either an idiot goblin or a meat bag goblin. And a hideous one at that.
A pig would not be bad if he had a “being eaten” fetish, which he didn’t.
A Chicken?… He doesn’t want to be called a chicken for the rest of his life… and that was a chicken, not a Rooster, which required 100 Karma…
A Slug? That wouldn’t work… He liked salty food after all.
An Ant? No… Male ants are useless and he doesn’t want to be bossed around by a queen for the rest of his life. He had no such fetishes… How long does an ant live anyway?

The only thing left was a Fly. He would be a smart fly. A charming fly was a possibility too…
He sighed as he wondered what to do, looking at the screen's unfeeling letters he knew that his future was pretty much doomed.

Wait a minute! he gasped. He knew the font of this dialog. Isn’t this the font he designed to be used in his software? What the ****!. The world system was using his software without his permission !!! This is Piracy!

He quickly touched the screen at some random spots. Nothing happened.
He tried again… Nothing happened.

He tried another pattern… and after five minutes a keyboard and a terminal surfaced!

A success.

“Hahaha hahaha….” he laughed as he saw that this was a familiar sight. He quickly granted himself root access and then began to investigate what was going on… He opened the system log and began to scroll through it.

After an hour or so, he pretty much figured it out. This system thing was a part of the world which is some kind of a super creature that goes around swallowing other worlds and integrating what’s best in them.

The world had no consciousness. Not yet anyway. It just swallowed worlds and grew.

And when it swallowed his world, it decided to use his OS as it is the most efficient thing it has ever analyzed. So it integrated it into its existence… As for the old system… It was a lousy one that the world kept in a backup folder, which he gracefully erased.

He quickly stopped the timer that annoyed him and began to read the entirety of the system's code, line by line, rule by rule.

After about… ten years he got the hang of it. He pretty much got to understand how the system worked… Sadly for him, he soon discovered that couldn't edit many things in the system as it was now a part of the world itself. And it had integrity-checking algorithms backed in. He was sure that the system would notice him if he tried that. He wrote those himself to protect his work from being tampered with… damn it!
That doesn’t matter... The system had many mechanisms that he could exploit to change things around, as long as he didn’t touch the root, he could maneuver around a little.

Now he wanted to create the ultimate character for himself and enjoy a blissful life!

He couldn’t!

Creatures could only be born naturally in this world, not brought in from outside.
For him, a foreign soul, an entry could only be allowed in special times like after a world merger.
If he forced it, the system would erase him… If it could. But he didn’t want to risk it.
Sadly, He spent so much time analyzing the system that he missed the rebirth window.

“Damn it!” He cursed for the hundredth time as he began to try different things, but in the end, all he managed to do was to create an ethereal body for himself using a spectator account, it could enter the world as a ghost. With this, he could explore the world, but not interact with it.

Crossing the void barrier he reached the material world, a planet so huge that was bigger than the sun in his previous life… And it had a donut shape with suns going around it… Interesting.

This Place was huge... How many different worlds did it eat? … He knew that, 24771.5.

Descending upon this world, he began to walk around, enjoying the scenery. He traveled from continent to continent exploring different cultures, and enjoying the epic stories unfolding in front of him. He only needed to follow the system log when something major happened.
People fought for power, and kingdoms rose and fell. He kept watching for 10000 years.

This world had a unique game-like system, where each creature had Attributes, Health, and a Mana bar from birth. And all creatures had levels, which limited how much of the world's energy they could utilize. Level increase would grant a creature access to more energy.

Every species in this world seems to have its own fighting system that utilizes the world's energy in some form. These systems seemed to have inherited from the original worlds those creatures came from.

To his dismay, he soon discovered that Humans had no such system. Except for the few really wise and gifted people who found ways to access the world energy through martial arts, the others were very weak.

Most of those humans who found themselves in continents where they were not the majority, would be exterminated or live their lives as lower species slaves.

Even in continents and Islands where there were only humans, it only took one stray dragon or even an evolved house cat to decimate entire kingdoms.

Power was everything in this world.

He didn’t like this, so he decided to give humans a way to fight back! The way he decided upon skill cards! As he could easily add this to the system as an app without breaking any of the world rules.
It took him 50 years to fully program the entire thing using primitive powers that the world has already approved. Converting each one to a skill card.

Each human would be assigned 1 to 5 skill cards when they are born. They would allow the holder to use superpowers depending on his energy level in this world.

The cards would be given depending on the parents and the environment with other factors.
Other skill cards can be won under certain conditions. Such as when a great demon appeared, a unique hero card would be issued.
As for leveling up, it would depend on an already established world system that he had no idea how to manipulate. Leveling up only affected how much energy the world was supplying to someone, so every man had to fight for that by himself, he was only giving them the tool to use this energy.

He made it so that every twenty levels, a choice would be presented to level up one of the already acquired cards or get a new one.
Every human is only allowed up to 10 cards. Unless they had some unique cards that overturned that of course!

When the program was finished he quickly patched it to the world system and watched as humans became strong enough to defend themselves and build unique cultures…. It only took them 300 years to become assholes and started to fight against each other.
He, being also an asshole, didn't really care, he just enjoyed the show.

Soon, after another 1000 years had passed. He had seen everything that had to be seen. He saw how people used and abused the system he created.

Some geniuses even thought of some things that he didn't consider.

He studied everything… and got bored!

He could only see those humans train and get stronger enjoying their lives, but could never be a part of it. He could look but not touch.
If he was some kind of a god or a saint, that would have been ok, but he was still a human and had desires. He wished to kill all those kings and nobles whom he watched having fun in their harems.

“Damn it, I want a harem too. I want to eat all the delicious food, and be lazy all day being pampered by pretty girls.” He shouted in frustration as he saw a fat prince getting massaged by a group of pretty girls.

Suddenly the sleepy prince, whom he was shouting at, jerked and looked around with a frown.
Did he just cause that? Could he affect the world?

After some experiences, he found a way. Through dreams. He could talk to people and using the system exploits he can help them to level up and gain Skill cards!…

So after that, he began to have fun. He created many sects and empires and watched them destroy each other.
It’s not like he told them to do that… those guys really fought on their own. He didn’t try to stop them though, he didn’t care. Whenever there is power, there will be a power struggle.

The problem was that once he created a power, he had no way to control it. He made this mistake once when he helped a kid become the emperor of an entire continent. But that idiot became a tyrant and stopped listening to him. Even starting to kill everyone around for fun. So He had to create someone more powerful to stop him, and this time he created 3. And as expected, those guys started fighting after finishing that guy off.

So after another 10000 years, he stopped interfering. He got really bored and began to waste his time sleeping, watching exciting shows, or reading in the world's libraries…

Many years passed, and just when he was about to lose hope of ever being able to be born again. He noticed something in the system log that made him lose interest in the pretty belly dancers he was watching.
This world was trying to swallow a minor world. This was his chance. The swallowing has not been initiated yet as that world is fighting back. But it was a weak one and would take 1000 years or so to be eaten. So this was his chance.
He needed to play his cards right.

First of all, he found a suitable continent… One that was a little far away from others and had no established civilization. He doesn’t want other continents to invade this one while he's away.
He will be the emperor of this one.

He manipulated some humans to come here and made them build a few countries and some other powers to govern some things and then set up an imperial dynasty to rule them all. It was also for him to be born into it. A ruling dynasty that had a prophecy. That the emperor ruler of this continent would be born into the imperial family after precisely 1000 years. And that the woman and man who will father this child would have to go through a certain secret ceremony.
This ceremony was to help guide his soul to the body that would be nurtured by all the world's treasures to create a perfect container for him.

After that, he built a few more organizations … Just in case…
Giving his setup a last look, he quickly disintegrated the ethereal body and returned to the soul form in the void. This was required for him to elude the world and merge successfully. Too bad he can’t keep an eye on the situation.
After that, he hid and waited, and the long-awaited day finally came.

He quickly adjusted his character with top skill cards and attributes and pressed <Yes>.

And like that he left the void and his soul entered the world.
…
He failed. Miserably!

Despite his grand wisdom and knowledge, he failed to remember one thing. SHIT HAPPENS.

He knew that things might get wrong, but not this wrong.

The empire he created didn't last 1000 years. In fact, it only lasted 5 years. The throne protector died at the hands of his second wife’s female cousin whom he wanted to marry against her will but ended up as a dead groom with a dagger stuck up his ass.
So…The empire was divided among his three infant sons who also died miserable deaths.

By his arrival date. When His soul entered the world again waiting for the ceremony to start and suck his soul into his new body, he was flabbergasted when his soul was sucked by 13 different ceremonies happening at the same time.

He cursed loudly as he felt his soul splitting apart. He quickly headed toward one of the candidate infants at the cost of further damaging his soul.

But to his surprise, when he entered the woman's belly and tried to touch the infant's body he was repelled. This body had a soul, those idiots didn’t follow the ceremony in detail. The fetus that should have been born without a soul had an occupant.
He could feel his soul being sucked by the ceremonies. All the energy attributes and skills he got for himself were being sucked everywhere by those bastards.

He had only one choice.

He quickly grabbed into whatever parts of his soul were left and ran away to realize that not only those 13 were doing the ceremony... more than 10000 ceremonies were being conducted with some variations... it seems this has evolved into a tradition for pregnant women in high societies... Sh*t.

In the end, he noticed a fetus’s body that was compatible with him and had no soul. Not caring what it was, he jumped into it.