Mwahahahahahahaha!

It was finally done! I have completed it! This was my first artificial soul which had the potential to evolve and become a real soul. In front of me was a knight whose body was made of the armor I personally forged using the quintessence of creation. "From henceforth, you shall be called Goblin Slayer!"

The Goblin Slayer bumped its armor on its chest and spoke in its rigid voice. "I hast received mine name."

This was unlike the Mindless Monk, as I had created an existence capable of thought, concern, and memories. Yes, I had implanted memories on Goblin Slayer. "Tell me about yourself, what was your story?"

"I would not remember. I lost mine remembrance, yet I was thankful nonetheless for thou hast offered me aid..." The Goblin Slayer answered solemnly.

Though the way he was speaking was weird, I made it do so as it was a part of his background story. That was what I meant by 'memories' when I talked about his background story. Goblin Slayer's story was that he was a warrior who suffered from amnesia from his recent adventure to which he found himself to me.

This was sick and creepy, but I asked with the intention of verifying it. "Did you know that I created you?" 

"Yes, I knew that mine resurrection was thy doing, and I owe thou a life of debt for thou hast born me to existence anew. Thou hast mine loyalty, master..." The Goblin Slayer spoke with surreal severity. His answer was within my expectations. With this, I could guarantee my NPCs' loyalty to me.

Yep, there was no going back. This was definitely becoming of me as an evil tyrannical overlord who played with life!

Mwahahahaha!

Speaking of evil, I used my Mind's Eye to check on my dear goblins. When it came to goblin behavior, I kind of restrained myself from going full psychopathic murder hobo. For the goblins, it was a natural development for them to rape, plunder, and slaughter, but I limited their activities to the forest and the roads.

I made the goblins to purposefully not kill humans, but simply extort them using 'toll' as an excuse, so I taught some goblins and added the feature that HobGoblins could talk. It was sick! The goblins' strength was further strengthened to the point I feared for my players, but I feared nothing for my players.

Through my Mind's Eye, I was watching a group of goblins robbing a carriage. This had been the nth time. Most often, the people being robbed would surrender and pay the toll. Sometimes, they would resist. If the goblins could subjugate them, they would be 'robbed' as per normal procedures. In fact, the goblins I had created were gentler than the rabid bandits of this cultivation world in that they would not kill their victims or humiliate them with their usual goblin behavior. Instead of the usual horny goblins, my dear goblins acted more like chaotic gremlins who would rob you of everything and destroy your merchandise.

He he he~! This was my hypocrisy at its finest. I could only say 'Forgive me,' poor merchants.

Because of this robbery scheme of the goblins, their strength continued to rise without stopping.

The more difficult the challenge, the better the growth my players would experience if they did overcome the challenge! Moreover, this was where my new NPC would come in. I stopped observing my various goblin bandits from my Mind's Eye. I rubbed my hands and inspected the Goblin Slayer's specs.

[Goblin Slayer Level 180]

With that level alone, the Goblin Slayer was already invincible against the goblins. Level 180 was the peak of the 4th stage if converted to the cultivation base of cultivators. However, that was not all. The level system I devised was completely different from the cultivation of this world in that my players and the NPCs I planned on creating possessed 'Law-bending Techniques' which came from the skill tree.

It had many names: Law, Authority, Dao, Enlightenment, etc. More commonly known as 'Dao Completion' was something only achievable by the 11th stage! These were techniques that should have been the bread and butter of Perfect Immortals, this was supposed to be their signature right, however, with my system I made it so that it now had become accessible techniques for my players and NPCs.

The Warrior's Equip and Boost skill. The Rogue's Fade and Snatch skill. The Mage's Force and Bind spell. The Cleric's Heal and Barrier spell. All of these techniques had tapped into the laws of the world and were basically cheat-like.

I was not saying Nee Chen could win against an 11th stage, but he could still inflict damage though very insignificant. But imagine... What if there were hundreds of thousands of Nee Chen, and maybe even millions? Then it would be possible to even fall an immortal! this was not certain, but theoretically, this was possible. This was what it meant to be a 4th calamity using numbers!

Sadly, I lacked greatly in the numbers department. That could wait for another time. I could wait for the Bloody Monk to find a player, and then there was also Lu Gao who I was planning to give an exclusive quest about finding a player too. I have too few subordinates, and they were the most important, so I hoped that Goblin Slayer would be proven valuable.

"You could now move forward with the main storyline," I told Goblin Slayer to go forth with his purpose, which was to slay goblins.

~~~

Artificial Soul. Modified and implanted memories. A new existence. A sense of self. The Goblin Slayer in a sense could be called as such--- a tool. It was ironic and paradoxically confusing how such an existence who had an awareness and sense of self didn't feel in any way repulsed by his own monstrosity.

He was basically the Frankenstein Monster and the Game Master was his Mad Scientist Victor Frankenstein, he thought.

"What was I thinking?"

There should not be any memories of him knowing such literary references. The Goblin Slayer was suddenly confused by the dissonance of the memories he possessed if compared to the inward joke he just made. Though he didn't know who was Victor Frankenstein exactly, he understood the reference.

Unbeknownst to both the Goblin Slayer and the Game Master, there had been a mutation to the artificial soul. What the two might perceive to be artificial had actually become real because of the influence of the system.

Outside of the known universe, from the circle of transmigration, bits of a soul were transfixed and reborn through the Goblin Slayer.

In another timeline from a different universe, there was a person who went by 'Goblin Slayer' who had met his unearthly demise at the hands of the very thing he loathed--- goblins. The said Goblin Slayer after passing had gone to the afterlife and had dissipated only to join the flow of the cosmos integrating into the circle of transmigation. This soul was then reincarnated into another world... and in this world, he continued calling himself the 'Goblin Sayer'.

Truly.

Such an impressive.

And noteworthy coincidence.

This was perhaps the workings of fate.

~~~

I needed new subordinates. I was tempted a while ago to designate Goblin Slayer as my player, but it felt wrong. It was not a preference or a personal bias, but an intellectual gut of a hidden danger that warned me of a vague inkling that something bad might happen if I did and turned Goblin Slayer into a player. This world where I walked, this world was alive. It possessed a consciousness so big it encompassed all.

There were many theories about this which were especially widespread in my past life among chuunibyou. It was complicated, but chuuni people were actually a philosophical bunch. In fact, I had chuuni colleagues who were very good at developing games in the aspects of world-building. That aside, there was this theory about the Will of the World. I could not remember from where I heard it, but the Will of the World in this Cultivation World could also refer to the Heavenly Will or Heavenly Dao or maybe even God.

I recalled the Heaven's Game and the many Deity-like characters that were involved in it.

As Fu Shi, I definitely had enemies that I must be wary of. Heaven might be my enemy, or more specifically, the people who ruled over it and mankind. I feared that if I had designated Goblin Slayer, an abnormality, as a player, the Will of The World might act against me and inform Heaven's Rulers of my blasphemy.

I was very much aware of the bad things I did. Giving immortality via resurrection could never be anything good. Creating mean little monsters filled with malice was never good. And now, I was dabbling with souls. This was my third offense! They would definitely crucify me if they found out!

"My progress was too slow... I needed more talented players... and to upgrade the system fast to have more players!"