Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There was once a nameless village near the borders of the Saderan Empire's lands, which said empire decided to claim as theirs for no reason.

They were peaceful and passive, only knowing how to hunt, foraging and even though they have the fighting skill they weren't good enough in front of Saderan warriors.

Seeing this unjust rule over their people the folk tried their best to summon a god when the Saderans were trying to extort and dry up what was left of the village.

Unfortunately no god answered their call, even nature could only give minor protection.

The Saderans had left them destitute, weak, poor and with little hope left. Some of the people had decided to leave and never come back, presumably dead.

Suddenly, one day the townspeople gained knowledge and a form of enlightenment.

Due to this mystery, the chief gathered the remaining 50 villagers, all victims of the Saderan Soldiers.

"What's this feeling? Mayor, do you know what's happening to all of us?" A hunter asked as he was feeling confused from all of what was happening.

"I... I don't know.... Perhaps this is divine intervention? Have the gods decided to lend us a hand?" The mayor of the village replied.

"I think I know why." An elder spoke with wisdom, "a God wants us to change our ways of life. We cannot stay passive for too long."

"... Those Saderans have ruined our lives, but we still have a chance to grow again under HIS guidance" The priestess followed up, grasping her wooden staff tightly, gritting her teeth once she remembered something horrible.

Just a few days ago she saw her family and dignity being crushed, and as soon as it happened something grabbed ahold of her and guided her out of trouble.

The ones who are dead cannot be raised back as it was forbidden.

"Our God... I felt his gaze from above the heavens, watching us." Her eyes softly closed with her hands clasped together in a prayer.

"And I have talked to him."

Upon hearing her revelation her fellows were surprised. It was well known that the gods can talk to any mortals as they wished, so this was surprising.

"Really? Then who is he?"

Kevin. The God of Fortune, the 13th and newly ascended god lent his hand for them to hold.

And as part of the customs of the world, they adapted a part of his name "Ke" as their middle name.

If he was their last hope, then they didn't have anything to complain about.

Starting from that day they were guided into exploring new areas, basic agriculture, given insight to combat, foraging and proper construction of their wooden homes.

They also took in a few dozen folk as directed by their god. Some elves, humans and wolfmen coming from the east seeking refuge to their village at the cost of helping in daily tasks and being introduced to their religion.

But what they didn't know was.....

"Alright, let's see what developments we could complete to develop this tribe further..."

Behind a screen, their God, Kevin was merely searching around a floating window to complete the tribe's development to a town, which was currently at 90% progress.

When it was complete, he could then progress further and evolve the tribe.

The cursor moved to examine the last two upgrades to develop before the village's technology advances further.

And the other was something interesting....

Both were good. So he decided to have his people research them, resulting in the spending of resources back to the two digits.

Which is fine for a growing village that was pulled out of destitution.

"Phew~! That was a good hour of playtime, time to pause and... Oh, of course pausing does nothing to stop the progress of this game just like idle mobile games." Kevin muttered, moving away from his computer to stretch his body.

There's no way to truly pause the game, but it is possible to use save states to get back when or if a huge mistake happens.

Like that one time where he focused on developing agriculture first before his tribe was attacked by a herd of wild beasts and he lost 50% of his people.

Right, now for the points system of the game. There are three types of resources:

Military - which is self explanatory and are general resources centered around it. It can be obtained through winning battles, and is used to recruit soldiers and weapons.

Infrastructure - Buildings and stuff generate this form of income while also using it to build infrastructure.

Economy - General flow of resources like gold, coins, money and iron also including supplies. While the other two are important, this IS a big deal.

And then there's the development points, which are granted regularly per week or through events. These are used to develop the village's technology through insight (infrastructure, technology and economy), direct boost in power (military), or permanent blessings.

These resources will consistently rise and fall regularly, getting granted bonuses or debuffs when in events.

So far, it does seem like RNGesus has decided that he would start with a destitute, pathetic village in the middle of the forest and he's almost close to an instant game over.

A rough start indeed.

But come on, there's no way that in mere minutes of being new to the game he'd lose! While this is bad luck, the area around his starting village was full of resources to gather.

North of the village was a river filled with fauna and fish connected to the west and is a main source of Economic Points. The trees provide Infrastructure Points, and hunting animals and killing invading bandits provide Military points.

For an hour of playthrough he focused on restoring the village's agriculture and infrastructure, he knew he also had to improve its Military just in case.

Two specific individuals gained his interest, too. One was a priestess, and the other was a warrior fighting for his people. Both had potential to become "Hero Units", or in this case, become Apostles of his own.

One was Alessia Ke Paris, an ordinary woman turned fanatic. Her desire to communicate with Kevin was troublesome, he'll get used to it.

And the other is named Durin Ke Boone, a prodigy and quick learner. A pretty chill man too.

Now that he's taking a break for lunch, he thought about skipping time for 2 weeks in the game to progress faster, gain resources quickly and encounter an event.

It was indicated that an event would happen at that time, after all.

What would happen next?

> Bandits have attacked a carriage containing supplies and merchandise to loot them! Will you command your troops to rescue them, or not? Your choice, pal.

Reward:

• +500 Economic and Infrastructure Resources

• +3 Development Points

• Access to trading connections

Fail Condition:

> The bandits successfully loot the carriage. You get nothing.

Chapter Text

Somewhere outside a forest, south of the Village of Fortuna (the MC's village) a carriage was on the run from bandits. The hooves of horses running at full speed surrounded it.

"Damn, they're still chasing us?! I thought we took a detour!" A hooded man yelled in frustration as the bumpy pathway proved to be more troublesome as it shook the many goods that were inside.

He was panicking, praying for safety even. They've been ambushed! The goods, which were to be delivered soon to the city of on the West were going to be stolen!

Their guards were useless, they're already dead from an ambush that was clearly launched against them.

'This must be planned, but by who!?' The Merchant wondered, trying to rationalize his thoughts

"Faster, faster!"

"I'm trying, sir!"

As the forest became denser the coach was feeling unfortunate.

He took the wrong path believing it to be a shortcut and soon two bandits flanking the carriage in both sides threw spears to the wheels, damaging them and eventually causing the carriage to a sudden stop.

"NO!!!"

Its resulting imbalance flipped the coach and the Merchant off balance and the horses' reins to snap, causing them to run away.

What's next? The group of 20 bandits approached the carriage, some even hopping of their horses.

"Stay away, I beg you." The Merchant was afraid, trying to protect the goods, "they're antique and very valuable, and if you stop my house will-"

"All the better!" One of the bandits sneered, drawing his blade to approach the merchant.

At that moment, an arrow flew between the trees, its tip digging into the shoulder of a bandit.

His scream of pain attracted the attention of his fellows as they looked around to find any trace of their attackers.

Once the bandit leader saw two people pass between the trees he growled and pointed at the direction he thought they were.

"You five, get them!"

The rest set defensive positions, raising a shield or preparing to fight and kill whoever attacked them.

At this moment the Merchant felt hope at what would happen, yet knew he shouldn't be relieved. What if those who saved him were also bandits?

Meanwhile, in the patch of trees and bushes five bandits looked around for any traces of their assailants.

"Tsk, show yourselves cowards!"

They heard the sound of someone praying, and when they followed it they saw a blonde woman kneeling on the ground.

Motes of light like will-o'-the-wisps gathered around her, and they couldn't help but admire this beauty, ripe for the taking.

"Look what we got here! A lucky catch!" A bandit gave a hearty comment to her.

"I don't know about this, but should we approach her? It stinks of a trap, as far as I know..." Another rationalized his thoughts.

Well, due to this distraction three of the bandits couldn't help but approach her.

"Hey, this is a trap!" One bandit was  and reached out and pulled an ally back by his collar.

This was a good move, just enough to save one of them. Several arrows flew through the air, directly hitting two bandits while some landed on the trunk of a tree.

By the time the two bandits fell to the ground wounded, the woman raised her staff up and let out a strange magic never seen before.

... And that's how they got ambushed by 5 people coming from behind with spears and bows ready.

Defeated with overwhelming force only one was spared with only a black eye and a beating, captured and brought to Fortuna by one wolfman warrior.

With her prayers complete Alessia stood from the ground and sighed in relief.

"How do you feel as of now?" She asked a warrior closest to her.

"I feel like I could run circles for hours!" He replied, flexing his muscles with vigor.

"Good. The prayer rite worked just as our God intended to make. Now let's move onto where Durin and his soldiers were tasked to go."

In the mind of the devoted priestess only one question was there: "What have our God possibly planned for us to rescue a merchant?"

Truly, a God's wisdom cannot be comprehended even by her.

The Merchant gazed in awe as tribesmen swiftly jumped out between the trees, taking the bandits by surprise.

Those tribesmen were of good variety, humans and even demihumans were fighting.

But why would they defend him and know what to exactly do? It was odd honestly, so he was in the defensive and couldn't give out trust yet.

Though outnumbered by them the white haired warrior and his allies were filled with a strange vigor and energy as a golden wave swept past them.

The fight, which was challenging to some had suddenly become easier like the breeze.

"Just like hunting wolves and deer, I see." The white haired man took a weak glance at the remaining bandit who became discouraged by the brutality of the events.

Most of this bandit's allies lay injured, some dead and even he and his opponents had sustained injuries.

"I give up! Please don't kill me!!" The bandit wailed, tossing aside his weapons and kneeling to the ground.

"Okay then, just one thing." It was all the bandit heard before a sandal crashed into his face with a loud slap.

The resulting force knocked the bandit unconscious, and the Merchant was saved at last.

Turns out the tribesmen were friendly, and it took a while before a beautiful maiden showed up.

"So it is you that our God wished to rescue, I am Alessia Ke Paris, priestess and messenger of the God of Fortune, Kevin. And that white haired warrior you met earlier is Durin Ke Boone."

Her god wasn't known by The Merchant, but as it was known that apostles can reach godhood in ten centuries that god must have ascended recently.

The Merchant couldn't help but rub his temple to help gather his thoughts.

"God of Fortune, eh? I must be really fortunate to have encountered you here."

But first and foremost, he almost forgot to introduce himself, right?

"My name is Derek Dun Diaz. A craftsman and low class merchant from Telta. I was supposed to go north to a town near the inland sea, but a bunch of bandits tried to loot me and I had to take a rough detour. And here I am!"

Derek groaned in frustration over the things he had recently encountered. He slammed his fist on the seat of his carriage to express it further.

"Noted. May you and your endeavors be blessed by fortune. That is the will of our god."

It was a good thing that there were extra wheels he brought in the carriage before, but the problem was with the coach, whose head was bleeding.

"Lend me some help here, my coach is injured!"

A few men offered to escort them to safety and he didn't mind. They have horses which helped in pulling the carriage after replacing the wheels.

Derek will have to stay in Fortuna for a while. Maybe there's something interesting to explore there?

Alessia sat down on the Altar in prayer to communicate with her God, left alone to prevent interruptions.

"Lord Kevin. We have completed our tasks, the Merchant is being shown around by our people."

«"Good, that merchant is a valuable asset for Fortuna to grow and flourish."»

"Why? He's just some merchant doing trading? Right now money has little to no use to Fortuna and its people."

«"You see, the Saderan Empire is the strongest in the world as of now, their military is massive and it is impossible to defeat them through ordinary means. Except economy, of course!"»

"But you're the god of Fortune, you govern over luck?"

«"Hmph. Your understanding of Fortune is foolish, young priestess. Fortune is not just about luck it is also about the flow of money and income in the economy. Money runs this world, and when Fortuna eventually grows to be an economic superpower, then...."»

And here she was enlightened again. Ah, how foolish she is for being unable to understand him!

"Then what?"

«"Sadera can crumble and fall for all I care. This world has no need for an oppressive tyrant ruling it."»

"Your will be done, my lord."

«"Then I will take my rest. Manipulating an aspect of Fortune drains my energy, so uh.. good luck."»

It seems like she does have much to learn and understand from her god.

Meanwhile in reality, Kevin took off his headphones and decided he's going to take a breather for a while before returning to playing the game.

Rehearsing lines he had to say for the priestess was in fact troublesome, but at least the strange, very realistic AI can understand what he can say.

All is good. In fact there's much for him to do after the break.

Chapter Text

Kevin wanted to spend his night playing that RTS fangame created by some unknown group of people who wished to stay anonymous for a while.

Honestly he was first surprised that it was based around a Light Novel written by an ultranationalist author turned into an anime which had its flaws and pros.

The concept of an empire based on Imperial Rome vs the modern soldiers is fun, but the way the plot was handled was like a bumpy bus ride with some good parts and some decent.

Anyway, as far as he knew, Sadera's focus was military and it was the strongest as of now.

But the real question was: when will Hardy open the Gate to Earth/Japan in the game? Depending on the time the JSDF may or may not be the least of his nation's troubles.

Besides all RTS games have some form of exploit present in them, which can be used to swiftly and smoothly get things done.

Out of curiosity's sake, he decided to use cheats to reveal the map, or to give himself resources but to his surprise it doesn't work.

The reason being:

It also showed him a window for his Divinity Rank, tracking his followers and the bonuses that come with it.

[ God of Fortune ]

• Tier: I

> There's some traces of your Divinity present in the area.

• Believers: 93/100

• Perks:

> Economic Points and Suwani Gained +20%

> A faint trace of fortune favors your followers

> Blessings Unlocked

This is another thing to note. He has no idea how good the bonuses he can have when more followers / believers that he has the better his abilities as the God of Fortune at higher tiers are.

It would take time for the count of followers to double or even triple in size.

Leaving the priestess on mute for a while was better with a good reason so he could proceed with accelerating the development of the village.

The merchant also has a request to the tribesmen, which included being escorted to the east. A hefty reward of +500 to all resources and 50 Suwani (gold coins) is there, so sending out Durin and a dozen warriors is enough.

The journey went smoothly, even though encountering a group of bandits was inevitable.

By the time the quest is complete new trade routes were available and his village now has a flow of Suwani, which are basically gold coins that are 100 times less valuable than a single yen.

Anyway, he had some spending to make, right? All those resources and piled up, plus the Suwani can be used for a lot of things.

Upgrades, transactions, special buildings, hiring of mercenaries, and being a replacement for spending resources for the same stuff.

It's a game changer, and because money held a lot of power more money = more power.

On the other hand, spending them now wasn't really a good option. So researching stuff in succession is the best option.

[ Resources:

> Military: 1259

> Infrastructure: 1328

> Economy: 1538

> Suwani: 65 ]

[ Development Points: 10 ]

[ Arithmetic (Economy) ]

> Elementary Mathematics that allows for efficient trading with less flaws than usual.

Cost: 500 Economic Points, 1 Development Point

[ Algebra (Economy) ]

> If I told you that more than a hundred years ago algebra was first recorded to be used for accounting by arabs? It was introduced through Al-Kwarizmi's book and it is also called the Double Entry Accounting. The more you know!

Cost: 750 Economic Points, 3 Development Points

[ Resource Distribution ]

> Converts Economic Points to either Military or Infrastructure Points and vice versa.

Cost: 2 Development Points

[ Spartan Training (Military) ]

> THIS! IS! SPARTA... Not. All combat units are made stronger and more efficient in combat. Effective immediately upon research.

Cost: 1000 Military Points, 4 Development Points

As soon as he purchased those upgrades, he sent scouts to explore the east to find traces of the warrior bunny tribe and land to claim at the right time (when it grows into a City).

But nothing important really happened for the last hour. As soon as the clock struck 9:00 at night, he thought of interacting with the priestess for a bit.

While the priestess was praying, the cursor gently flew above her head to see what else he could do out of curiosity.

'Dang, she's actually pretty cute up close. This also works, too? This game really has a lot in it...', Kevin couldn't help but comment in his heart.

With the click of the mouse he tried to rub her head, and to his surprise she reacted in kind.

"Hm...? Lord Kevin?" Alessia's eyes opened, looking around in confusion.

"Must be my imagination. I shouldn't be..."

That same hand pulled her cheek, painfully in fact.

"... distracted- eek!? A ghost, in the sacred grounds?!" Out of fear she raised her staff and angrily pointed it around her.

"SHOW YOURSELF!"

«"It's me."»

Alessia's eyes widened, and now she felt ashamed for mistaking Kevin for a ghost.

She looked like an idiot.

"Forgive me, my Lord! I-I didn't mean to!"

«"Be not afraid under my presence, this sacred place is where I am at my strongest in the mortal realm."»

Eventually she calmed down and returned to her prayers, while still feeling his hand rub her head like a puppy.

"This is too much! Receiving praise directly from my Patron the God of Fortune is definitely the greatest form of honor, I'll do my best as your priestess!"

[ Alessia's Loyalty is now at MAX ]

This wasn't surprising. As soon as he left her alone he went to sleep for another day to pass.

Soon, three months passed in the blink of an eye. To Kevin, it was thursday, playing the RTS while skipping turns casually as he pleased.

The population had grown significantly larger than before and the introduction of new trade routes allowed for a smooth flow of resources gained and spent.

Fortuna grew into a large town with a population of ~1700, most of which were people who migrated from multiple locations. The shrine was rebuilt into a temple, with new recruits learning directly from Alessia.

As it turns out, the Warrior Bunnies were already living in the east, and they have recently arrived from a gate and that they were from another world altogether.

Three scouts were also "captured" by members of the warrior bunny tribe due to their impressive journey to the east and never returned home for two months.

He knew this was still the beginning of his economical conquest, after all the game's objective was to destroy and dismantle the Saderan Empire, right?

Curiosity and intrigue filled Kevin's mind as he wondered what to say with all of these gods and wondered what they are.

The moment he clicked "Y" his vision was filled with immense, blinding light for a minute.

Once he opened his eyes he was suddenly in a wide room with a massive round table, each with chairs being sat on by 12 other beings that looked otherworldly.

Glancing at himself his clothes were still there, and now he realized he was completely out of place with all these people.

Still a posture of confidence and composure filled his body as he leaned forward resting his chin on his clasped hands, calming himself down before intrusive thoughts fill his mind.

All the strangeness of the game literally pulling him to the world of Falmart's "Heaven" was almost overwhelming in a sense.

Now what?

Chapter Text

The game had planted itself into his computer, and there is no way for him to remove them unless he wants all his progress removed.

Gaining composure Kevin sighed and stopped himself from reaching a conclusion which would be really stupid right now.

Besides there's more to this game than it should have. So he started to dig into the files and code that the game has.

"Interesting... How interesting..." His glasses gleamed, reflecting the monitor's screen.

It does appear that he is capable of manipulating and modifying the game's data and files.

One, he is unable to directly modify data related to characters, terrain, or even his own resources.

Two, he's worried he might brick the game and make it unable to run properly.

Three, most of the code is encrypted. He can't do shit about it for now, unless he finds the right time to decrypt the code to gain more power over the game, in turn exploiting its code.

And that also means that through a loophole he can modify the game's intricate code he can basically give himself the ability to pause the game for real or modify loading as something more akin to time reversal.

But to be fair that would be cheating, right? No. There's probably a reason why he is capable of time manipulation.

On the other hand, he can fix several problems the game has, like its irregularly changing tick speed which is similar to time dilation/acceleration.

Fixing its irregular tick speed should be enough, as sometimes when one hour passes the game has already gone through 4 days or even an entire week.

This process took almost at least six hours, including mild breaks once in a while.

And because of the game's suspicious code which allowed it to adapt to his actions and influence in real time he wanted to go to a few forums and ask online friends on Discord for their opinions.

#general-chat

• 10 online

RatSquirrel • 3:25 PM

Sup

So I have a strange problem with a game I'm playing rn

Any RTS game doesn't really have this weird time dilation stuff which keeps it running even after I quit

Also it does have an AI that adapts based on actions which may be a problem soon

If I think everything happening there is real I'm delusional as fuck I guess

Zenon Fairless • 3:25 PM

So it forces you to stay in the game consistently like those cheap mobile games? Boo

Give us screenshots of the game

Now

RatSquirrel • 3:26 PM

Screenshot_37282.png, Screenshot_37283.png, FortunaMapV1.jpg, (+7 more)

These were taken a week ago when I started playing

Progressing good so far

Galactica Goose • 3:27 PM

I think it's just the game's unique mechanics or something

Don't worry too much about it

If something too bad happens don't forget to savescum or return to an earlier save

Also that looks pretty cool

Zenon Fairless • 3:27 PM

Does it have multiplayer?

RatSquirrel • 3:27 PM

Nope

It got sent by an unknown email address

I checked for once

Whoever it was, they're gone like they didn't exist at all like they were banned or something

Maybe it's the best idea to not disclose it to the public

Zenon Fairless • 3:28 PM

I checked the title of the game

It doesn't exist

Probably still in beta testing

RatSquirrel • 3:29 PM

I've also fixed it's irregular time dilation problem within its code and I can now slow down and accelerate time in the game

REMOVED BY MODERATORS (RULE 6)

"Ugh, should've expected this...."

Kevin's disappointed sigh was the cue not to visit this forum site and decide to take a few hours of rest, just after checking on his customers that regularly visit the Computer Cafe.

That night, he launched the game once more to check what was happening.

At that point he noticed that something had already begun to attack Fortuna.

On the north an army of around 100 monsters charged in and broke through the recently constructed walls of the town.

The majority of those monsters were already dead.

Among those monsters he saw orcs, goblins and even ogres.

His nation's warriors and mercenaries seemed to be fighting back evenly, but it would take a while for a victory to be achieved.

He also saw Durin and his soldiers fighting the majority of the forces.

Yet this wasn't the least of his problems. Seven events had already passed by, and his absence had done significant changes to Fortuna.

Among those events involve connecting routes to Elbe and Coda, solving Fortuna's problems internally and externally by guiding followers.

And lastly.....

.... Why is Fortuna now a Vassal State of Sadera? Whatever happened before this, it basically limited his control over his units and infrastructure.

Plus heavy taxes to his resources were pretty damn bad, too.

He is tempted to immediately turn the clock back to the most recent save, but he wanted to find out more about what he had missed during his tampering of the code.

The strange mechanics of the game demanded consistent focus 75% of the time which definitely is troublesome, fortunately he had fixed it earlier.

And so, by this point, he tried pausing the game with the click of a single hotkey.

It worked, which is good.

"Let's get this over with." Kevin muttered to himself, going as far as to search all around the visible parts of the map to locate his followers.

Eventually he found Alessia sitting by a tree in a dense forest, with a tattered coat covering her body.

With one swift movement of his cursor, he checked her status.

[Alessia Ke Paris]

[Level 10]

[HP: 350/500]

[MP: 300/300]

[Loyalty: MAX]

[Current Status: Hunger, Insanity]

".... It couldn't get any worse."

Kevin's nostrils flared as he wondered what had happened earlier.

The game resumed, and he decided to talk to her.

"Alessia, it's been a while."

For a moment the priestess flinched, and then she looked up to the sky with a weak smile and teary eyes.

Her true expression was unknown, yet it still gave him goosebumps all over his body.

"Yeah, I suppose it is." She cried, "six months had passed since we talked. I did my best in keeping them together, I really did..."

"Their betrayal was unforgettable and stained your very name, for that I cannot forgive them all!"

Alessia was screaming out all her frustrations, about how Fortunians have decided to betray her and effectively Kevin himself for greed and selfish fulfilment.

It was also the reason why she escaped with a tarnished name, becoming a "Witch" in the process of being exiled for her own brave efforts.

"Do you... Blame me for this?" Kevin couldn't help but ask.

That made her expression worse.

"... Maybe. Maybe I'll blame the other gods for suppressing you or the people that betrayed all of us. If so, I'll forgive you for it."

A pregnant silence engulfed the area as Alessia rested her back on the tree's trunk.

"Is there something you could do to shift the tides to our favor?"

Kevin knew what she was talking about and it was time to put it into good use.

"I'll force time to turn back."

As if understanding his words in the worst manner, Alessia revealed what was hiding under her cloak.

A sharp dagger meant for stabbing only shows her true intentions.

"If there is nothing else I can do but help you, please accept this glorious sacrifice of mine!"

"Wait-"

Too late, she already stabbed her own heart and began to die with a smile.

'Why did she even do that?! That's unnecessary!'

Kevin let out a frustrated growl as he hovered his cursor to a button he made to reverse time.

Soon time was reversed to the previous save point, and for many Fortunians all that happened felt like a dream or a passing nightmare; forgettable like no else, with only vague visions of the future.

He was no longer playing a game just for fun and games. This time he felt like taking it more seriously and putting some more responsibility to his actions in the game.

Who cares if the other gods give him threats? Who cares for some covenant that would restrict and bind him?

To him it's just a challenge that requires trial and error (savescumming) to break through.

GATE: THE RTS was no longer just a strange fangame, it was becoming real with each hour he plays it.

Being portaled to Falmart is just one proof of it.

This time....

.... He will be playing Falmart's civilization for real.

And it's all going to be fun. After all the game is pretty balanced with no exploits!

Now where is his Yorkshire tea?