Western Fantasy Alchemy: Did the Player Become a God Today?

[My take on Central Chinese alchemy + my take on Western fantasy + the divine right to rule with absolute authority]

The slums were filled with numbness and death.

A mechanical prosthetic limb gleaming with dark gold stepped over corpses as an assistant priest hypocritically announced to the crowd that the purification of the unholy had succeeded.

The tragedy had begun for no reason other than the lowly color of the victim's hair.

Under the night sky, bodies submerged in muddy rainwater crossed the boundary of death and wandered back among the living. Half a month later, the assistant priest was slain by secret arts amid the crowds gathered for a festival, his death accompanied by screams.

In a dark alley a hundred meters away, Lin Jiu, a black-haired commoner who had just avenged himself, gripped a money pouch belonging to a noble. At last, he had scraped together enough to buy the materials needed to rebuild his body.

The shadow of an alchemical airship swept across the land. He raised his head and gazed skyward, and for a moment remembered that he wasn't Lin Jiu at all, but Xiao Jiulang, a player of the game The Laws of the Arcane who had achieved the Age of the Gods' Twilight.

Xiao Jiulang lowered his head and looked ahead.

There, under his control, the player interface for The Laws of the Arcane unfolded.

The aura of the Age of the Gods' Twilight put the God of Light on guard. The deity issued a divine decree, hoping to snuff out the danger in its cradle.

Xiao Jiulang wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and stared at the God of Light who had descended into this world, his eyes dark gold.

At last, he was sure of one thing.

"So the gods of this world..."

"Have health bars too."

Warning: The protagonist is ruthless and vindictive. He is not a good person! He is not a good person!

2023.12.17 (To be revised later)

Theme: When oppressed, one should learn to fight back