Book of Fire - Prologue 01

I woke up, or perhaps it's more accurate to say that I came to, in a dark place. The first sensation I felt was a bolt of pain, spiking through my head like a lightning bolt, but it faded as swiftly as it came. It was only then that I opened my eyes and became aware of the space in which I was... floating?

I couldn't register any other impressions from the space, not even what I was sitting on. If I possessed limbs, I couldn't move them, but at the same time I didn't feel at all restrained. I didn't feel fear, either, only some kind of vague, pervasive sense of coziness and comfort.

My senses were dulled, but eventually sharpened enough to see that before me, a short distance away was...

It was a beautiful woman.

Well, at least I think it was a woman. She had the usual womanly features- a pleasantly plump chest, round hips, delicate features- all wrapped up in a clingy white gown that was figure-hugging but somehow also virginal.

However, what was somewhat un-woman-like were the pair of brown floppy dog ears hanging down on either side of her head, a shade lighter then her neck-length hair, and the frenetically waving, fluffy tail behind her.

"Welcome, kind master, to heaven," she said softly, giving me a heart-meltingly warm smile.

It was the kind of welcome that nerd men always dream about, of some cute girl giving them a warm smile and calling them 'Master'. However, the feeling was spoiled by my anxiety uncoiling from my spine like an angry snake. I wasn't ready to be someone's 'master', and even if I was, the circumstances here were incredibly suspicious. Maybe it was some kind of dream?

"Uh, excuse me, perhaps there's some mistake," I began, struggling to see elsewhere in the room, but my vision remained stubbornly focused on the dog-girl with the clingy robes. But I interrupted myself, my words cutting off with a hard click of my teeth. What if this strange floating sensation wasn't the result of a dream, but rather some kind of drug? Could I have been kidnapped by some yandere type for her own nefarious purposes?

Try as my anxiety might, though, it couldn't break through the pervasive sense of calm. I couldn't even hear my pulse quicken, which was normally how I knew a panic attack was coming. The girl seemed to notice by discomfort despite that, and quickly began waving her hands and continuing in a bit of a panic.

"Do not worry, human! I haven't kidnapped you! You're here because you are blessed in the eyes of Dog!"

Rather than allay my fears, that statement only caused the anxiety-snake to threaten even harder. This crazy person wasn't just a strange dog-girl who worshipped something called "Dog", but she was also capable of reading my mind. Of course, the poor, flustered dog-girl fed on my rising panic, and in return started to panic herself.

"Oh, I'm so terrible at this part!" she whined, literally whined as in it was accompanied by an appropriately dog-like, high pitched moan. "I know you have many questions, but please be at peace! I can answer them all for you, and everything will be explained!" she said, waving her arms in a panic as if she could beat back my fears. Her legs drooped, disappearing behind the folds of her robe. "I can read your mind, and I'm sorry it's bothering you, but I can't help it! You don't have a physical body right now, so the only difference I can feel is when you intend to speak or not! Oh, that's probably just going to make you feel worse...."

It did bother me, a little, but the dog-girl panicking like she did was so adorable, I was immediately disarmed. As soon as my mind got distracted, the anxiety fell away like it didn't exist. "Hey, hey, it's alright," I said, trying to soothe her, "Why don't you take a deep breath, collect yourself, and then start over from the beginning?"

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly let it go, her ample chest rising and falling with the motion. When she opened her eyes again, and seemed to be a little recovered- even her tail began to wave a little, cautiously. "Welcome, kind master, to heaven. You are here because you are blessed in the eyes of Dog," she said, starting over as I suggested, "I also do not have that backwards, I did mean to say Dog."

I puzzled over what she sdaid for a moment. "Wait, so you're implying that God, as in the Capital-G God, is a Dog?" I asked. As a lifelong atheist, that bit of knowledge came as a bit of a surprise.

"Yes, of course. Dog loves all humans. It is why Dog sent almost all of his angels to accompany humans, help them, and be their companions."

That's ridiculous, I thought for a moment, before my brain actually processed what she said. That did make a certain amount of sense.

"I am also not a kidnapper," she went on, "Nor am I crazy or obsessed with you. As to why you are here... I'm very sorry, kind master, but you are dead."

That was a shock. "Uh, what?" I asked, the words just popping out of me in surprise, "Could you run that by me again?"

"Unfortunately, it is true," the dog-girl explained, her tail drooping once again with sadness, "You had what is called a 'brain aneurysm' in your sleep. Snore, snore, pop! And now it's all over."

"I have a problem with you treating this so lightly," I snarked, then immediately regretted it as the girl became even more despondent.

"Oh, I'm sorry... b-but it's not my fault," she replied, "I don't make that kind of decision...."

Exactly like a puppy, she was able to melt my anger in seconds by sheer force of cuteness. Making her so sad felt awful, and I couldn't help but relent. "I'm sorry for my outburst," I added, trying my best to think about having a smile, "Please continue."

Exactly like a puppy, she bounced back immediately.

"I know it's hard to comprehend all this, but there's some good news, too!" she said with a cheery smile, "Because you spent your entire life being kind to all animals, you will now pass on to a 'Heaven' of your own design. Yay! Thank you!"

The puppy angel clapped and I had the impression of a small amount of confetti dropped from above. Was I really kind to all animals though? Big dogs and basically all cats gave me anxiety, so I avoided them. I lived in the city, so livestock and larger animals were never a factor. I was a homebody who preferred to stay in his room all the time, so my opportunities were limited anyway.

I hated bugs, so I never wanted to touch them. Did I really go my entire life without squishing a single one?

Also, when I thought of a "Heaven of my own design", I immediately had a parade of perverted thoughts. Maybe that kindness test fails in that regard. Sorry, Dog, I thought, I hope you are as forgiving of my sinful thoughts as you are fluffy.

"In the past, people tended to chose to just relax forever in tropical settings, or be endlessly pampered in a palace," the dog-angel went on, "But these days many of the people I meet just want to live in the same worlds as a video game, a fantasy novel or a television show... but there are many possibilities! It can be whatever you want!"

I considered what she said, but in a way, I had already decided what I wanted to do. You see, I have a special talent. In terms of written rulesets for games, I was definitely not kind. In fact, there was never a rules set I couldn't make my bitch if I wanted to. Board games, tabletop games, RPGs... there was a reason I was a homebody shut-in, and it had a lot to do with the fact that even other nerds resented my power-gaming prowess. I was utterly ruthless, and if I'm being honest, rarely a graceful winner.

So, when it came to a "Heaven" made exactly to my specifications, there was only one choice.

"I want to live in a world based on a tabletop RPG!" I shouted excitedly.

"Oh, that was very determined! You must be excited!" Once again, the puppy-angel wore a pleasant smile, "Are you sure? This has to be your final answer, and you won't be able to change your choice for quite awhile...."

"Absolutely, I'm set on this." When it came to tabletop roleplaying games, I knew the systems like the back of my hand. Fighter, Cleric, Rogue, Street Samurai, Arbitrator... I've done them all and then some! Even when encountering a brand new ruleset, it didn't take me long to go through the basics and find all the juicy exploits within.

Of course, this approach wasn't great for things like "making friends". I ended up playing online a lot, and groups I was in tended to fall apart for some reason.

I was excited to proceed, but first, I needed some assurances.

"I would also like the standard isekai package," I began, the possibilities unfolding in my head, "Cute girls everywhere, an inexplicable harem to indulge my every desire with, and lots of typical fantasy elements!"

As you might imagine, a dedicated power gamer like me didn't meet many women either.

"Not a problem!" the puppy angel assured me with a smile, "Are you ready yet? Is there any objection?"

None at all. Not a thing. Bring it on, standard fantasy world, I will make you mine!

There was a soft pulse of light and it was done.

Now, I suddenly had the impression of being before some kind of clear surface, like a glass table. On the table before me, there were suddenly a set of polyhedral dice, just like you'd need to play any tabletop game.

"Now, it's time to make your character!" the puppy-angel told me, unable to hide the excitement in her voice, "Go ahead and roll your dice whenever you're ready!"

I grimaced- or, well, at least I thought about grimacing. A point-buy scenario, where I could set my own attributes and come up with the most optimal choices, would have been better for my purposes. With dice, the randomness could be a problem.

"Oh, you should have said so before I made your Heaven," she said again, in another adorable moment of panic, "I thought dice would be the most fun, so I just did it that way! Please forgive me!"

Well, it's not like it's impossible to work with... let's give it a try. "It's alright," I reassured her, "I'd like to proceed, if that's still okay."

Tentatively, I picked up the dice and gave them a roll.

Five, four, two. Eleven. Not a great start.

"So your Strength is 11..."

I paused. "Wait, hey, I didn't..." I began, but then cut myself off, to process this new information. Not only was I randomly determining my stats, but the puppy-angel was forcing me to assign my stat numbers in order. I had virtually no choice in this process... at least right now. It might be possible to work with what I rolled, when it came time to do class and race selection. Tentatively, I gave the dice another roll.

Hey! Five, six, six! Seventeen, which is at least something good to work with.

"Your Dexterity is 17. Lucky!" The puppy-angel continued cheering for me. Dexterity was a widely-used attribute in almost every game system, with both defensive and offensive applications. If I wanted a high result in anything, it was that attribute.

...But it was followed by crap. Four, three, one, for an exciting score of eight.

"Aw, only 8 Constitution? Well, at least there isn't a very big HP penalty!"

...And I was unhealthy. Crap. Constitution was the other stat that almost every possible build wanted as high a number as possible in. Being harder to kill was always a plus, and most RPGs either had a "critical failure" system where you die (or fall unconscious) once you hit zero HP, or some kind of increasing wound penalty that could be better managed with higher Constitution.

Then, miracle of miracles, another five and two sixes. That's fantastic, another top-tier number!

Then, another okay one. Four, six, three, for a score of thirteen.

Finally, four, five, five. Fourteen.

"Intelligence is 17, very good! Wisdom is 13 and Charisma is 14! Awesome, we're ready to proceed!"

I nodded in satisfaction. If I was correct about what system the puppy-angel was using as a basis for my heaven, I lucked out and beat point-buy levels, and I have two strong stats to work with, so even though it's not six eighteens, I can work with this. I was intelligent and dexterous, had better than average wisdom and likeability, but only so-so strength? That wasn't entirely unworkable, but... something about that low Constitution made me uneasy.

Perhaps, in case you are from this world and don't know what a "Role Playing Game" is, or are from my old world but you were a normie the whole time. Well, it's hardly the most complex thing about relating this whole tale, but it can be a little tough to grasp, so I'll do my best.

A role playing game (or RPG) is a game in which people act like a different person (called a player character), usually to act out some kind of exciting story or tale of adventure beyond what most people ever experience. At least, that's what most people do- they use the "game" as a framework to tell stories. The "tabletop" part comes from where these games originally occurred- sitting at a table, facing your circle of friends, playing without the assistance of a computer.

The rules of an RPG exist to facilitate the storytelling aspect of the game, but they're not a perfect reflection of reality. Because they're meant to be played by a group of regular humans sitting around the table. Forget about things like simulating physics, doing complex geometrical puzzles or the like that's an everyday sort of thing in video games- few groups of people can work out that kind of math and trying to do it quickly while also telling an engaging story is nigh impossible. Because of this, the gameplay mechanics of RPGs have to be simplified and comprehensible by a single, average person.

That's where people like me come in.

I like to "break" these systems- find their weak points, the little rough joins and corner cases that the rules either simulated poorly or never accounted for. By ruthlessly exploiting these cases, you could achieve results far and beyond what the makers of the game (and the "game master", or person playing as narrator in these games) ever intended. A classic example is the "peasant railgun". There was a certain very popular rules system in which passing an item from hand to hand was a "free" action that anyone could take without preventing them from making an attack or doing what they could usually do in the three seconds of a combat round. So by having a chain of ordinary peasants, standing about a metre apart totalling a chain 3 kilometres long, and pass an arrow from hand to hand for a single combat round only to have the last peasant throw the arrow at an enemy, would result in the arrow exceeding mach 2 and hitting it's target with the power of a explosive missile.

Now, of course, that's a flagrant disregard of common sense. No way that people can pass an object from hand to hand in a chain that long and have it done and launched within three seconds. To say nothing of the fact that somebody in this chain of hundreds of people would fumble it. But because according to rules as written, passing is a free action and always perfectly accurate with no fumbles, the rules allow for this to be a possibility.

Now, the game master, in their role as referee, would usually never allow such a thing as the peasant railgun to happen. But, they're only human, too, and subject to overlooking things, and being intimidated or manipulated into allowing you to get away with what you shouldn't. That's what I love to do- make a character who could kill anything, defeat anyone, and overwhelm any force, while expending as few resources as possible, and as early in the game as possible.

If I were to compare it to anything, it's like the thrill of dealing with a genie. No genie would ever allow you to wish more wishes and get away with it. But if you were to wish for a rich heiress to fall madly in love with you who happens to own the exact sports car you like, take vacations in every spot on the globe you ever wanted to visit, and happens to have a gorgeous supermodel twin sister and both of them are bicurious and polyamorous.... Well, there's a lot of wishing you can pack into a single wish if you get the wording right, and the only limits are how far you can stretch the genie's patience.

I just realized you've probably never had to deal with any kind of genie, but I think you get the idea, don't you?

That was my way. Figuring out how systems work and using them to get the best results. Why did I do it? To show off how I'm smarter than most GMs? For the challenge? Both? I just find my own fun, is that wrong?

So the opportunity to be able to test my power gaming skills in an arena closely approximating my original reality, while being overseen by a literal divine entity I had to try to manipulate and wheedle to get my way? It was catnip. The ultimate test.

And, well, a perfect opportunity to get serviced constantly by a whole crowd of doting, beautiful women and become rich and famous in the process was also in the offering. I couldn't say no to that, either.

"Are we ready to proceed to the next step of character creation?" The puppy-angel said, interrupting my thoughts.

Clearly I found myself in a dangerous situation. Having such a low Constitution would make basic survival in this "Heaven" all the more difficult. I had to go through the rest of character creation with an eye on maximizing my survivability as well as personal satisfaction for this strange opportunity. I held up my hand for attention like a good student- or at least, I thought about doing it, physical action in this weird pre-heaven space was still hard to wrap my mind around.

"Yes?" the puppy angel acknowledged me with another of those heart-melting smiles, "You have a question?"

"How much control over the rest of character creation will I have?" I asked.

"Well, first off, we'll use as many of these fun little charts as possible! Everything else that is a choice, I'll let you choose."

Hmm, good so far. Using random die rolls as much as possible is somewhat annoying, but at least she acknowledged I'll be able to make some decisions. More importantly, there is a lot of wiggle room there.

"So, if you're satisfied, we'll proceed with your race selection~"

Really, though, it was my class that was on my mind.

In some really old school RPGs, race and class selection are intimately tied. If you were to proceed how most rulesets imply you should, you would pick a race for it's special abilities or aesthetic without thinking of your class. Doing this, however, you might receive some nasty surprises. For example, it's common for Dwarves to be unable to become Wizards. Being a nonhuman race could be very powerful, but possibly limited in what they could become.

First, though, I reviewed my attributes.

My Strength was mediocre. Given the numbers that the puppy-angel felt were "lucky" and "poor", I was made to roll using a very familiar method that gave a result between 3 and 18. In that distribution, 10 was average, and 11 was virtually identical in terms of actual advantages. It just wasn't high enough to make a difference.

In contrast, my Dexterity and Intelligence were phenomenal. Seventeen was the second highest possible result, so I certainly couldn't complain there. I needed to capitalize on those as my main strengths.

My Wisdom and Charisma were good, but not high enough to base a build around. I was glad that they were both higher than average, especially Charisma. Not having much of an interest in the "role-playing" portion of most role-playing games, I never had much use for Charisma builds, but in the context of having my soon-to-exist harem darlings, having a decent Charisma would be sure to make that more manageable.

Fundamentally, I had two priorities when making this character to live in my Heaven.

One was to maximize my enjoyment. I wanted to be rich and powerful, have a lot of fun, and get laid a lot, all things I couldn't accomplish in my previous life.