Dragon God’s System

A middle-aged wizard who had studied dark magics his entire life finished preparing the Enlightenment ritual. Once everything was in place, he stood in the center of the magic circle and recited the spell. Suddenly, he found himself standing at the edge of a dense forest as the twilight cast long shadows through the trees. The air was thick with a sense of mystery and magic.

As he explored deeper into the forest, he came across a clearing bathed in a gentle, ethereal light. In the center of the clearing, ancient runes glowed softly on the ground, pulsating with latent power. They emitted rays of light, radiating warmth and protection.

However, beyond the clearing was a darker path, shrouded in mist and filled with eerie whispers. Here, the wizard sensed the presence of darker spells, potent with raw energy and unpredictable forces. Symbols of darkness flickered in the shadows, tempting him with their forbidden power.

As the dream unfolded, the wizard grappled with the choice between the comforting light spells that offered clarity and benevolence, and the seductive dark spells that promised strength and dominance. Each path held its allure, but the wizard was torn by indecision. As he awakened from the vivid dream, the wizard realized that his path to mastery was not only in mastering spells of both light or darkness, but also in understanding the delicate balance between them, harnessing their energies to achieve his true potential.

Slowly, I started stirring on the ground, realizing that I had a dream within a dream. I snorted, faintly amused because I was starting to believe the system might actually be sentient, much like Hyggiandi, although with a weird sense of humor. However, I had no proof to support that theory, so I decided to just be happy about the fact that I was now a seventh level wizard and was able to cast fourth level spells.

What I was unhappy about was that I didn’t know how to use all the faith I had gained. I also didn’t know how to achieve a divine rank of one instead of my current zero. I definitely felt like a god among mortals, but I didn’t have a few powers that every real god possessed. I couldn’t hear prayers. I couldn’t bestow spells upon my clerics. I didn’t even have any clerics. More than likely, I wouldn’t be able to advance to the next divine rank until I created a divine focus. Clerics needed a divine focus to cast their spells, so their divine focus would probably be similar to the divine focus that I would create.

Actually, a lot of gods had something that focused their powers like that. Zeus had his lightning bolt. Poseidon had his trident. Even Christianity had a divine focus, the cross. Therefore, I probably needed something to represent me as a god. However, first, I would need to know what was important to my religion.

Sighing, I sat up as I tried to imagine what else I lacked. One thing was a bible or some other type of holy text. While I wasn’t certain every god possessed one, I was pretty sure having some type of dogma, doctrine, or tenant. In fact, I probably needed to have all three.

Dogma was a set of essential beliefs, principles, or doctrines that are identified by an authority as absolutely true. Christians would say that Jesus was born. He died for their sins. He was then resurrected. If someone believed in him, they would go to heaven. If they didn’t believe in Jesus, then that person would go to hell. Dogma could be considered the general beliefs of a religion.

The Ten Commandments could serve as tenants of Christianity. Even the “golden rule” could be considered a tenant. However, just like honoring your father and mother might be open to some interpretation, treating others as you would be treated could also be interpreted in different ways. However, in general, tenets could be considered the moral and philosophical rules that defined their religion, and all worshippers were expected to follow them.

As for doctrine, that was like the teachings in the Bible. The church believed everything in them to be true, but Christians could interpret what was written quite differently. Priests might even place more importance on some aspects of the religious text in particular. Some passages might even be ignored or explained away. For example, Christians might place a lot of importance on the sanctity of marriage and of baptism. Doctrine determines what is considered important by the church, such as haircuts, what is eaten, or even if someone should be circumcised.

I needed to create all three. However, first I needed to focus on the dogma. After that, I could then create the rest. I started rubbing my chin, almost as if I still had a beard as I tried to crystalize what my core beliefs should be. I didn’t want to be just a god of death, but also one that promised a chance of life. Twilight actually went quite well with that, since twilight is both the end of the day and the beginning of the day.

So, I needed something about death being a time of transition instead of something that only destroys. That would fit in well with reincarnation. However, I didn’t want everyone to reincarnate the same no matter what. If someone was evil, they needed to pay some type of price before reincarnating and being given a second chance. As for those who were good, they needed some type of reward. Even though I might not be able to deliver on whatever these punishments and rewards might be, I at least needed to incorporate them into my dogma.

Basically, I needed something like death was needed and that everyone would eventually die. However, don’t worry, because death is just a transition into whatever comes next. Then I need to come up with some virtues that are related to death that almost everyone could agree with.

I also wanted something that would deemphasize death as being evil. I didn’t want to be pigeonholed into only getting along with the Pantheon of Darkness. I wanted to have some common ground with the Holy Pantheon. While I might still be seen as evil, maybe I could be viewed as a necessary evil. After brainstorming for an hour, I finally had an idea of what my church would be like. While I didn’t have everything, I did have the basics from which I could start creating a Holy Book.

Just as I was about to start writing my holy book, Alsvartr contacted me. Apparently, she had been able to catch up with Einvaldskonungr despite his head start. Another thing that she let me know was that he was also visibly upset. When she caught up with him, the red dragon was devouring a green kobold who was coming out of his lair. However, despite stopping one kobold, many others must have long since left because as soon as the red dragon entered his lair, he let out a deafening roar, filled with frustrated rage.

Judging by his reaction, whatever part of his hoard that he had been forced to leave behind was gone. I was actually a little surprised that he immediately set off in search of Groenneitr, but I attributed it to the fact that he was a hothead who couldn’t cool down his temper. If I was injured and needed to recuperate from a ballista wound, I would have chosen to wait until I healed. However, the red dragon was different. He set off immediately while my familiar trailed along behind him like a shadow.