Chapter 1174: Hey, Past Me Is Pretty Smart

(MC POV)

The battle royale has officially started and it seems like my disciples have been teleported far away from one another.

I wasn't too worried since they already knew that something like this was expected and they would most likely be fighting in this event mostly on their own.

I noticed that Lian Li, Manami, Kiyomi and Eris immediately went to search for opponents to fight while Brendan, Diao Chan, Elaria and Tsuki seemed to be concentrating on laying low instead.

Not to say that the latter four were hiding themselves but more that they were taking some time in setting up their own things and preparing themselves against the opponents they might face.

As for the other four who immediately went on the hunt...

Lian Li immediately came across a male Origin Wielder and before he could even say anything, she had already shot a golden bolt of lightning at him.

Unfortunately, this Origin Wielder obviously had experience in combat since he protected himself and deflected the lightning away before settling into a combat stance.

Lian Li did not let up her assault however as she immediately fired off another bolt of lightning at him which fizzled out when it hit the invisible barrier around him.

He tried to counter her by shooting his own lightning at her, only to have its concept be erased the moment it formed.

The Origin Wielder showed surprise when he realised that Lian Li was a goddess, though he quickly regained his confidence. Most likely he thought this fight would be easy considering the fact that he has fought with gods before.

Unfortunately for him though, Lian Li had already used that time to comprehend his concept of life and ended it, killing him instantly before he could set up the proper defences against her.

Seems like Lian Li took Lilith's advice and went at him seriously from the start without letting him fight back.

I'd think if this was not under battle royale circumstances and this Origin Wielder knew he was fighting against a Divine from the start, he would not have had his ass handed to him so easily.

Looks like despite the powers granted to Origin Wielders, if they are not able to utilise it properly, the gods of this universe can still fight back quite effectively huh?

I suppose no one wanted them to be too powerful either so the gods themselves can also watch the watchers in case they go corrupt or something, so the power balance is not too skewed to one side.

Although this also means that if my disciples are able to keep their divine nature secret, their battles would actually be ended quite quickly.

"First blood!" A voice rang out that was heard by everyone on the planet. They even had a picture of Lian Li appear in the sky to show who was responsible too with another picture of the Origin Wielder she defeated at about one tenth of her picture's size beside it.

That was when several gods let out cries of despair and disappointment from their own viewing area which confused me quite a bit, though this was not heard by the participants themselves at least.

If I'm correct, each Origin Wielder is only representing one god, so I would understand if one of the gods became upset that this guy lost. So why are there so many others who got upset at this?

'Ara? Should I find out for you, Master?'

You know what? Why not?

There was a slight pause before Iris spoke into my mind again.

'Ufufufu~ It seems like there are Gods who were unable to join the battle royale, so they made do with gambling on who the winners would be instead for favours and positions from other Gods~'

Ok... I get the favours part but what do you mean by positions?

'Ara, ara? Some Gods are in charge of Worlds that are significantly better than other Worlds be it the population, the location or even the other Gods in charge of that World. Gods might then wager for those positions where they would swap roles with the Gods if they win. Some have even used this to wager their Administrator positions too~'

...

I don't even know how to react to that... Is this a normal thing in this universe? Are all the gods really like this?

'Ufufufu~ It would appear so, Master~'

Then what's the difference between the gods and mortals? They're just as bad, if not worse!

Ugh... What was the past me thinking when they made them like this? Was I really trying to make a good universe or just one that was constantly... Wait... Oh...

Ok, I take back what I said. Past me is actually quite a genius.

If the gods are too perfect, then the universe becomes unchanging. And when the universe remains unchanging, everything becomes stagnant.

There must have been a universe where I had tried making the gods perfect beings incapable of making mistakes or even feeling any emotion, which then led to total stagnation of the universe as they made sure to keep all mortals in check, never allowing them to step out of line.

So in a sense... All these actions that the gods are doing... Was because I made them like this.

Even Aesi and those goddesses were also like this because I made them to be like that... Damn... Ok... This puts a new perspective on things...

No, wait.

I did not specifically make them to be like that... I only granted them the freedom to be able to learn, adapt and change. Which means they could very well have changed on their own without my input.

Ok, so that means some gods are really just quite screwed up on their own...

The only thing that seemed to be a constant was that every single one of the gods knew me as their creator, which seemed to be ingrained into their divinity.

That meant that any god who had divinity in them would instantly recognise me right away unless I intentionally prevented them from knowing.

Good to know I suppose.

Putting that aside... It seems like my disciples were on a roll.

Look, Manami single handedly burned up three Origin Wielders in one go. Kiyomi also just blinded several Origin Wielders before ending their lives with her domain. Then Eris simply just cut those Origin Wielders apart with her domain the moment she would meet them.

On the other side, I could see Brendan was brewing up some kind of large scale domain that would effectively wipe out a good chunk of the Origin Wielders in the vicinity once that was completed.

Diao Chan was also concentrating on weaving some kind of spell that would manipulate the desires of the Origin Wielders to make them kill themselves... I think?

Tsuki and Elaria... My two little sisters decided to go ahead and use their domains to create their own versions of me...

While Tsuki made what seemed to be biological clones of me, Elaria went for the mecha me instead, complete with in-built god killer weapons of mass destruction...

I'm... Just going to pretend I didn't see any of that.

Actually... Aren't they a little too good? Just what has Lilith and Muon been teaching them?! This doesn't feel like they've only been training for a week!

Did they use some time manipulation or something?! They look like they already have experience fighting multiple divine beings all at once!

Oh yeah... They fought with Iris, so I guess they've already had experience with fighting with one of the most powerful beings in this universe, making all these Origin Wielders look like some mob characters. That explains a lot.

Then again, they are, after all, my genius disciples. That is to be expected I suppose.

Great job!