1.Welcome to the Age of Mythology

"Welcome to the Age of Mythology, chosen ones."

"Each of you will become one of the primordial gods in this chaotic world—living, fighting, and evolving alongside countless native deities—until death, or until you attain immortality..."

"This is the chaotic world before the birth of the universe, the origin of all myths. The creator god Aether has yet to begin shaping reality. The sky, oceans, land, and ordinary life have not yet come into being... Even the gods you're familiar with—Zeus, Odin, Ymir, Eve, and others—are still in their infancy, or haven't even been born yet..."

The system's voice echoed in the ears of more than thirty teenagers.

"You will grow alongside them—or perhaps become their enemies. Friends or foes—it's up to you."

"As the first group of humans to enter the Age of Mythology, the divine forms you take on will be completely random, but each of you will receive an initial item gifted by the system."

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In a pitch-black, eerily cold space devoid of warmth, a group of teenagers listened to the system's words in confusion and disbelief. Not long ago, they had been sitting in their school classroom, attending a regular lesson. Their math teacher, reeking of cheap perfume, was droning on endlessly. Oliver Stark had been half-asleep, staring at the blue sky and white clouds outside the window. Then, suddenly, everyone was hit with a wave of dizziness—and the next moment, they were in this dark, unfamiliar place. The classroom was gone. There were no trees, no light—nothing physical at all. It felt like the vacuum of space.

Amid the chaos, many classmates screamed in panic. But the system's voice sparked a wave of excitement.

"No way—this is real? We're becoming ancient gods and fighting alongside Zeus, Odin, and the others? Like, the Zeus and Odin?"

"This isn't some kind of prank show, right?"

"Don't get too excited, or you'll be the one getting laughed at later!"

The group buzzed with excited chatter. Some didn’t believe any of it—but the next moment, a new development began.

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[Divine status randomization complete. Bound as: Ancient Serpent.]

Oliver heard a voice echo in his mind. Ancient Serpent?

What’s that supposed to mean? Am I turning into a snake?

As Oliver pondered, a wave of searing pain suddenly surged through his body! In the darkness, his classmates cried out in agony as well. It wasn’t just pain—Oliver could feel his body, his bones, his flesh undergoing dramatic changes! His hands and feet were shrinking, and his bones felt like they were melting. Luckily, the transformation was intense but short. Though agonizing, it didn’t last long.

[Divine status binding complete. Selecting gifted item… Error… Item compatibility error…]

Amazingly, as the system’s prompt sounded, Oliver noticed his vision getting clearer. Previously, the darkness had been absolute—but now, even without any visible light, he could clearly perceive everything around him. It felt like a new sense awakened in his soul.

"Everyone… turned into monsters?" Oliver took a deep breath, staring in disbelief at the scene before him. His classmates had transformed into bizarre creatures—some animal-like, one with a human head and a bull’s body, another just a plain sheep.

Some looked like insects: spiders, beetles, or grotesque winged worms. Compared to them, turning into a snake didn’t seem so bad. But Oliver quickly realized something worse—his size was pathetic!

Even some who’d become insects—like Isabella, who was now a red-bellied spider—were massive. Without a reference point, it was hard to tell scale, but his Ancient Serpent form was about the size of one of her legs. The others weren’t much different. To Oliver, they looked as big as houses—or even mountains! He, the snake, looked more like the insect.

But more than his size, Oliver was worried about the system’s "item compatibility error"—what did that mean? He glanced at the others. None of them seemed to have the same problem.

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"I got an S-level item—the Fire Element Sword!"

"S-level? That’s insane! Mine’s only a B-level item."

"Mine’s an A-level—a gemstone. Could it be the legendary Philosopher’s Stone?"

Most people had B-level items. A few got A-level, and just one person received an S-level—the class’s blonde bombshell, Jennifer. After learning she’d gotten such a rare item, Jennifer’s cute, freckled face lit up with joy.

"Why did I get an item compatibility error...? What the hell is going on?" Oliver felt frustrated.

"Hey, Oliver, why are you so tiny? That’s pathetic."

"What a loser. I bet size equals strength."

"Says who? I’m not that big either." The group broke into noisy debate. Despite their monstrous forms, their voices hadn’t changed, so they could still recognize each other.

"Do I even need to explain? If you’ve got a problem, come fight me!" A proud, arrogant voice rang out. It was Alex—the school’s football linebacker. Even as a human, he’d been strong, narcissistic, and always causing trouble—but popular, with a rotating cast of girlfriends. And now, he had transformed into a massive dragon with glimmering silver scales! When he spread his wings, they blocked out at least half of the space. To someone Oliver’s size, he was like a god towering over an insect. Then Alex deliberately flapped his wings toward Oliver—showing off.

Boom!

A gust of wind slammed into Oliver, sending him tumbling backward. The pain made him cry out. But Alex ignored him and burst out laughing.

"Hahaha! Stark, you’re such a loser! You were a freak back in school, and now you’re a useless god too!" As a transfer student, Oliver had once been bullied by Alex. But Oliver wasn’t one to back down. The next day, he fought back—attacking Alex alone and leaving him bleeding. Of course, Oliver got hurt worse in the process. After that, Alex never dared bully him again—but held a grudge. Now, empowered by his dragon form, Alex saw a chance to get revenge.

"Hahaha, Stark, beg me for mercy and I might let you go. I don’t just flap wings now—I can breathe fire too!" Alex bragged loudly. His lackeys laughed along, clearly envious of his power. Oliver, meanwhile, was still struggling to get up. "Damn Alex…" Oliver felt humiliated.

"Alex, don’t go too far. We’re classmates. Now that we’re stuck in this world, we should be working together against the native gods." Jennifer stepped forward to defend Oliver. Her divine form was a rare humanoid one, though her skin had turned a striking deep blue—like an Avatar. She was large too, though still smaller than Alex. Someone actually spoke up? Alex was annoyed—but when he saw the flaming sword in Jennifer’s hand, he narrowed his massive eyes and stopped pushing it.

"Thanks, Jennifer." Oliver spoke up. "Don’t thank me. Just get stronger. This chaotic world is going to be brutal, I’m sure of it. I won’t always be able to help you." Jennifer said coldly. In truth, she felt Oliver was a burden. Teaming up might be necessary—but she didn’t want weak links.

Rejected. Oliver sighed to himself, but since she’d helped him, he still appreciated it. Just then, the long-silent system prompt returned.

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[Error corrected. Issuing item reward: Book of the Chaos Era.]

[Item Name: Book of the Chaos Era]

[Item Rank: SSS]

[Effect: Unknown.]

[Book of the Chaos Era, binding complete.]

Book of the Chaos Era?

Oliver stared in shock at the ancient book that appeared in his mind. He recognized it—this was the old book his grandfather left him after passing away! When he was little, his grandfather used to read monster stories from this book to lull him to sleep. But honestly, Oliver thought the stories were clichéd and boring—otherwise, they wouldn’t have worked as bedtime tales. And now, this book seemed to have undergone some unexpected changes.

[The Book of the Chaos Era allows you to understand yourself better. You have gained a new ability: Devour!]

A detailed system panel appeared before him.

Oliver Stark

Race: Deity

Deity Rank: 1

Attributes:

* Defense: 1 | Strength: 1 | Chaos Power: 1 | Soul Power: 1

Skills: Devour

Devour: You can consume anything in the chaos, growing endlessly without limit!

Owned Item: Book of the Chaos Era

My defense and strength are only 1?

Is this reasonable? I’m a deity, after all!

Or is this Ancient Serpent I’ve become really just that weak?

Oliver was puzzled at first, but he quickly figured it out. This combat stat panel was likely designed with his base attributes as the starting point. He was the baseline unit, so his strength, defense, and other stats being 1 wasn’t all that strange.

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What caught Oliver’s attention more was that he soon discovered he could not only see his own panel—when he looked at others, their panels appeared too. For example:

Alex

Race: Deity

Deity Rank: 1

Attributes:

* Defense: 8 | Strength: 9 | Chaos Power: 9 | Soul Power: 3

Skills: Fire Breath

Owned Item: Unknown.

This is Alex’s panel?

This guy’s stats are way higher than mine—his strength alone is 9 times mine!

Oliver quickly realized that viewing others’ panels was something unique to him, something the others didn’t have. The reason was simple: if everyone could see each other’s panels, they wouldn’t have needed to debate earlier about whether bigger size meant greater strength.

So, does bigger size always mean more strength?

After observing for a while, Oliver concluded that there was a trend, but it wasn’t entirely accurate.

Beyond the panels, what Oliver cared about most was his newly acquired skill: Devour. This skill could let him grow infinitely? In other words, though he was weak now, his future potential was enormous! Plus, this Book of the Chaos Era was an SSS-level item—it surely had even more incredible uses! After all, the others only had S-level items at best, while his was SSS!