"…Okay, but where do gods go?"
The question hung there longer than I liked.
I stared at the interface, waiting for an answer to politely present itself.
Nothing did.
No tab labeled [GODS].No warning message.No empty slot blinking expectantly.
Which meant one of two things.
Either gods didn't exist yet—
—or I hadn't messed things up enough for them to appear.
I thought about it for a moment.
Then I sighed.
"…Right. Faith."
That one came back to me surprisingly fast.
Not from any specific series, but from the general rule across basically all fantasy and anime:Gods don't show up because they're strong.
They show up because people believe hard enough.
Belief crystallizes.Faith accumulates.Concepts condense.
And then—boom—divinity.
"Okay," I said, nodding to myself. "That's a future me problem."
I mentally shoved the entire concept of gods into a labeled box and slid it somewhere far away.
TODO: Gods (Faith-Based Emergence)
There.
Handled.
Now, onto the much bigger problem.
The world's power system was… nonexistent.
I opened [SKILLS].
Empty.
[AFFINITIES].
Empty.
[CLASSES].
Empty.
Mana existed as a concept, but it wasn't doing anything yet.
Which meant right now, this world had intelligent life… and absolutely no way to do anything interesting.
That was unacceptable.
"Okay," I muttered. "Think. What do fantasy worlds always have?"
Magic.Skills.Elements.Weird energy systems with arbitrary rules.
And unfortunately for reality, I had read a lot of those.
I didn't want to reinvent the wheel.
I didn't have the patience for that.
So instead, I did what any tired, underqualified admin would do.
I stole everything.
The Core Energy System
First things first: there needed to be a base.
Something universal.
Every world had that.
Mana.
I clicked into [ATTRIBUTES] and expanded it.
Mana already existed as a stat, but it was… inert. Just a number with no plumbing.
"So let's give it plumbing."
The idea clicked immediately.
Naruto.
Not the details—I didn't remember those well enough—but the vibe.
A network.Channels.Circulation.
Energy that moved, not just existed.
"Chakra network… but fantasy."
I renamed it before my brain could argue.
Mana Network
A circulatory system for magical energy
Present in all living beings
Quality and capacity varies by race
Can be trained, damaged, or expanded
Did I know exactly how chakra worked?
Absolutely not.
But I remembered:
Nodes
Flow
Control mattered more than raw quantity
So I mashed that together with fantasy logic.
Mana flowed through:
Core nodes (heart, mind, soul—sure, why not)
Secondary pathways
Peripheral channels
Mages used it consciously.
Warriors used it subconsciously.
Most people didn't think about it at all.
Perfect.
Vague, flexible, and impossible to disprove.
Demonic Mana (Because Demons Needed Something Special)
Next problem: demons.
Regular mana felt… wrong for them.
Demons needed something sharper.
More volatile.
Something that thrived on bad emotions.
I didn't remember the specifics.
But I remembered the idea.
Jujutsu Kaisen.
Cursed Energy.
Negative emotions turned into power.
So I reframed it.
Demonic Mana
Generated through strong emotions
Especially negative ones
Denser than standard mana
Naturally corrosive to non-demons
Demons didn't circulate mana.
They condensed it.
Pain, fear, hatred, obsession—all of it fed the engine.
Was this scientifically sound?
No.
Was it narratively sound?
Extremely.
I made sure it interacted badly with normal mana.
Not explosively—just… incompatibly.
Which meant:
Demon magic felt oppressive
Holy or neutral magic resisted it
Hybrid users existed and were terrifying
That felt right.
Domains (I Tried Not to Call Them That)
Then there was the concept I absolutely could not ignore.
That thing.
The one every overpowered character eventually gets.
A personal reality.
I hesitated.
"I really don't want to call this a Domain Expansion," I said.
So I didn't.
I called it something fantasy-sounding.
Sovereign Fields
High-level manifestation of will
Creates a bounded space
Enhances the user's abilities
Suppresses external interference
I kept it rare.
Very rare.
Most people would never even know it existed.
Demons had an easier time with it.
Because of course they did.
The specifics were fuzzy.
Activation conditions?Depends.
Limits?Probably.
Counters?I'm sure someone would figure it out.
I intentionally left gaps.
Hard rules made systems brittle.
Skills (The Classics)
Now for the comfort food.
Skills.
The stuff people expect.
I populated the basics almost on autopilot.
Magic Skills
Fireball
Ice Lance
Wind Blade
Heal
Lesser Heal
Greater Heal (locked)
Appraisal
Of course Appraisal existed.
Every system had Appraisal.
I didn't even question it.
Martial Skills
Weapon Mastery
Enhanced Strike
Footwork
Guard
Nothing fancy.
Yet.
Utility Skills
Enchanting
Alchemy
Crafting
Taming
Because if someone didn't eventually break the economy with enchanting, was it really a fantasy world?
Skills could be learned by:
Practice
Instruction
Awakening under stress
Because that's how it always worked.
Affinities (Elemental and Otherwise)
Finally, affinities.
I went simple.
Too many elements get messy fast.
Primary Elements
Fire
Water
Wind
Earth
Secondary
Light
Shadow
No Void.
No Chaos.
Yet.
I could add those later when things got weird.
Affinities affected:
Efficiency
Spell shape
Learning speed
They didn't lock anyone out.
I hated systems that did that.
When I was done, the interface no longer looked empty.
It looked… alive.
Messy.
Obviously stitched together.
But functional.
I leaned back mentally, staring at the structure.
Mana networks stolen from ninja anime.Demonic power reframed from cursed energy.Domains renamed and fantasy-washed.Classic RPG skills slapped on top.
It was a Frankenstein system.
Anyone from my old world would recognize it instantly.
Anyone in this world would think:
"This is how reality works."
Which was exactly what I wanted.
"…Good enough," I said.
I didn't feel proud.
I felt relieved.
Somewhere below, the first mage accidentally circulated mana the wrong way and fainted.
Somewhere else, a demon discovered that rage made them stronger.
And far, far in the future—
Someone would look at this system and think:
"Who the hell designed this?"
I opened the next menu.
"…Okay," I muttered. "Classes next."
And the world kept going.