It's a topsy-turvy world out there
Welcome Infinity
There's a new VR game coming, and that means it needs beta testers. Sure, the "dev" in charge of tracking and fixing bugs looks a lot like the archetypical devil, and the VR tech is really immersive, and there's no log out button...and this isn't a game, is it?
Axiom of Infinity: Souleater
is a web serial following Infinity, one (with occasional interludes to others) of the intrepid testers as they have to come to terms with life in a different world. And body. And gender. And species.
The fact that they killed and replaced the original occupant of their new body (not by choice) isn't helping much either.
Despite a heavy focus on questions of identity (particularly of the gender variety) the story also has an incredibly "crunchy" and well-thought out system. Turns out humans are really good beta testers and the gods' new world and magic system still has quite a few kinks that need ironing out...
The Adversary would appreciate the correction of any omissions within the following tropes:
- Affably Evil: While he looks like the stereotypical Western Devil, The Adversary is very personable, frequently helpful and on occasion funny. But while he is the god of Laws, he is also still the god of Lies and Evil.
- Awful Truth: Tristan really isn't prepared for the answers he gets from Corona via magical Truth Serum.
- Bazaar of the Bizarre: Earning "scarabs" from any of the gods unlocks several of these where the divine currency can be spent on rare skills, spells and equipment.
- Classified Information: Any information about Valera's class or race options, or even that she is an option, is intentionally hidden from the players by the gods, and enforced by System.
- Easter Egg / Hidden Mechanic: The Valerian race and associated class Infinity gains is a deliberately hidden option that is only available to the observant.
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Game-Breaker: Infinity ends up discovering at least one of these quite early on. They aren't the first to find it, but they are the first to actually report it - turns out a lot of the inhabitants of the world have been abusing it for a while. The Adversary is not happy, and quite a bit of divine retribution is likely on its way. - Game System: An in-universe example; the magic rules of the world of Astra are deliberately created by the various Gods to make reality behave like one of these. Every world they create has a slightly different one, taking lessons from previous worlds, with the stated goal of eventually creating the "perfect" one.
- Grand Theft Me: Infinity originally thought they were just jumping into a randomly generated character. They do not take it well when they realise this is what they did to the original owner of that body.
- Gods Need Prayer Badly: All the many deities and magical forces are competing for influence over the world of Astra which is earned by mortals progressing their various goals. The more followers, and the better they advance your wishes, the more influence the god gains over the world.
- Heart Drive: As a Valerian, Infinity's soul (actually, technically their spirit) is bound to the gem initially embedded into Tavi's forehead. Killing Tavi's body would be inconvenient as it's hard to do anything as an inanimate crystal, but it wouldn't actually harm Infinity.
- Humans Are Special: We're used to playing and breaking systems of magic thanks to modern entertainment, and that makes humanity ideally suited to stress test the latest magical world the Gods have created. Finding and reporting bugs is actively rewarded, and the protagonist is particularly good at it.
- LitRPG: Initially believed to be of the Virtual Reality flavour by the "players", but is later revealed to be an RPG Verse.
- Min-Maxing: Infinity is very good at this, sometimes by discovering bugs (which they of course then report), sometimes by discovering deliberately hidden features and other times simply just by pure smarts. When your literal life is on the line, it well worth taking the time to extract every advantage you can.
- Obvious Beta: While it's not obvious to the world's inhabitants, the Gods are quite upfront with the fact this is a new "system" and they're hoping humans can help shake the bugs out of it.
- Our Demons Are Different: They're spelt Daemons and the reference to *nix processes is deliberate. They can have arguments and commands to control what they do and how they behave. They're literally bits of unreality shaped to do a certain task, and being inherently unreal get ignore reality's rules. Like, physics, for example.
- Our Gods Are Different: A large hierarchy exists, with the gods who embody abstract principles like Freedom, or Law at the top who count as capital 'G' Gods and a personification of Hawking Radiation considerably further down that is more a natural force than traditional deity.
- Parasitic Immortality: While there are some significant downsides to Infinity's new form, this potential is definitely one of the upsides.
- Possessing a Dead Body: Seems to be a possible way for Infinity to gain new bodies to move to, though since they inherently bring their own soul and spirit as part of the process the result wouldn't be undead as usual.
- Satan: The Adversary is not actually the Devil, despite looking like the common Christian conceptions of him. The Adversary is his boss.
- Secret Character: Infinity unlocks a previously unknown class, "Shadow Thief" by virtue of a very unique combination of events and skills. This, naturally, comes with a bunch of bonuses for being the first to discover it.
- Secret Identity: Using some of the skills that come with their unique Shadow Thief class, Infinity creates one of these, partly for the fun of it and partly to help with their growing identity issues. It doesn't.
- The Symbiote: While a Valerian would normally simply overwrite the personality of a body they enter, it turns out choosing Infinity as your soul name comes with, well, a little more room internally.
- The Undead: Various forms of ghoul and skeleton make up the bulk of enemies in the dungeon under the prison in Altria.
- Trapped in Another World: The fate of the protagonist and others, though not everyone who plays the "game" are pulled across. Only those who desire something more from life and are dissatisfied with what Earth has to offer are transferred to the new world. For everyone else it remains simply a game. Interestingly it is also just another world, not another universe, and is in fact relatively close by astrophysical distances. Apparently magic does exist, we just don't have it on Earth.
- Truth Serums: Arbiters are granted a divine skill called "Compelled Testament" that forces the subject to answer any and all questions asked truthfully, but can only be cast on a willing subject due to the loss of free-will it, of necessity, involves. Arbiters are forced to undergo it themselves before they are allowed to cast it, to ensure they know quite how horrifying it feels and don't abuse it.
- Unbreakable Weapons: Bastion of the Dwarven Lords is a legendary shield that is virtually indestructible, and also can only be moved by the individual it is bound to, not even by gravity.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Turns out the players' literal souls have been transferred to Astra, and there's no return ticket. But the Gods only did this to those who, consciously or not, wanted something more than the comfort of modern existence and would end up wanting to stay anyway.
Welcome XX_GooseKicker_XX, who am I to deny you?
