And take a while it did.

  An honestly embarrassing amount of time considering how powerful I had become, but it was good that there wasn't anyone to witness my 2 hour blunder.

  It certainly didn't help that the egg thing was as big as I thought it would be, since the port I found was a massive egg shaped indention on one of the server racks. That clued me in that the admins had shrunk it for my sake.

  I really should have been listening, as it would have saved me another hour and a half.

  Whatever, point is I found the port and plugged the now properly sized egg into it. The egg was originally several planets worth of mass, and so large it felt awkward moving it with my Telekinesis. Though it did confirm I could easily move celestial bodies many times larger then Earth with some effort.

  Once that was done, I went back to the office and saw that it had an update screen. By its estimations, it would take 20 minutes to complete.

  My gut told me it was supposed to be instant, but another part of me said that there was no way that faker was keeping his System up to date. He basically jailbroke it when he stole it, and the admins in charge of keeping it up to date died.

  Another thing to do nothing but wait for.

  I changed my perspective back to the cafeteria or mess hall in the castle, and noticed that these silly goose's have hardly touched their food. Most just staring at it or openly looking at me with worry, fear, and confusion.

  'Whoops, I probably shouldn't have left them alone for 2 hours. I can only imagine how awkward it would be to have some guy staring at you in silence for 2 hours.' I had left an instance, but it would seem that was a bad idea.

  "I appear to be bothering you. I'll leave you to eat, but if you need something just come find me somewhere in the castle." I stood up from my chair, and several of them jumped in surprise.

  I didn't look back as I walked out of the room, and removed that instance once the door closed.

  In the 2 hours that I had been away, all of the Korlips had eaten at least once. Leaving most just... standing around. Quite a few seemed to be mourning the many that died, but an unnerving amount of them just didn't seem to care.

  Maybe they didn't know how to feel about what was happening. Maybe they had no hope of any better future.

  But they didn't need to.

  I'd give it to them, even if they don't ask for it.

  ...

  Time, as it seems to like doing, lost all meaning for a long while.

  I sunk deep into the mountain of work that was getting not just a single planet back on its feet, but hundreds of them.

  Thousands.

  Millions.

  Well I say that like I did a whole lot, but honestly it was all the System update from that egg the admins gave me. They really know how to avoid doing any sort of real work.

  I used to think they were a bunch of lazy weirdos, but now I see that they were true geniuses. Why would I tire myself out trying to fix one planet when I could have some magic BS do it for hundreds of planets all at once, and do it damn near perfectly?

  There was only one thing that I could do to make it go by smoother.

  All of the species that were being held as slaves or toys by that faker were afflicted with strange parasites, and had some weird lock on their souls to prolong their suffering for an eternity. I could remove both of those problems, and I did so.

  Even at the massive loss of life that occurred each time because some just couldn't go on anymore. Their bodies would be healed, but whatever was done to their minds or souls was simply too much, and they would die no matter what I tried.

  Most species didn't trust the System either, in the beginning at least.

  Not until I started playing the role of a villain.

  I wouldn't do anything really. Just spout some nonsense about how 'evil' I was and how I would bring about the age of darkness.

  I'd blot out the sun with a really big Black Hole Gate, get 'pushed back' by the System, lose in some grand fashion, and observe from orbit as they got their lives together.

  Over and over again, I would play my part like a script.

  Eventually, I started to feel less and less bad about being seen as some kind of bully.

  Hell I actually started to enjoy it.

  It felt like I was larping as some kind of power ranger villain or demon king. It was pretty fun.

  Maybe my negative emotion blocker thing was getting strong enough and hiding that small amount of guilt, but I think I was just getting used to it. The people would try and fight back against the System if they didn't have a figure to latch their hatred on.

  All of their negativity born from being tortured for I don't even know how long. I took it all.

  Planet after planet, play after play, I solidified myself as some dark lord. Just like my name suggests.

  I even modified my space suit to be more 'evil' looking. Shaping Jimmy to have an absolutely massive black cape with visions of nightmarish monsters and impossible geometry within, really gives me the vibe of some kind of interdimensional horror. I also gave my helmet long sharp horns, and changed up the color scheme a bit. Instead of the previous black on white, it became black with white accents. Turned my visor from a dark gold to a more rosy pink gold for a while, but didn't like it that much. So I made it just a really shiny white.

  Thanks to my ability to become multiple instances, I could do several acts across many planets. All the while visiting my not so empty city.

  Despite my best efforts, some planets were far too gone. Having only several million people instead of several billion. So I would have them moved to my city, or the 'System' did that. Thankfully it was pretty rare to find such a planet that needed to be abandoned, so my city was still pretty empty. Most buildings still unused.

  My kuppens, Claws Hedge and Ruth, were growing nicely and I had an instance with them at all times. They stopped trying to eat me at some point, and I don't know when but they were eventually completely tamed.

  Any instance at my planet didn't have the signature 'Dark Lord' look, but I avoided being seen by anyone in my city just to be safe. Sticking to my penthouse and a special base I setup on the other side of the planet to keep my kuppens safe. Mostly so I could play with them freely without worrying about being seen.

  The farms were being used, crops planted and monsters/animals raised for slaughter or whatever they could get as byproduct. I interacted with my Guildmates more, and watched as the Mektra Guild grew over time. That's when I was hit with something I had completely forgotten about.

  I had completed my Quests finally, and it only took... a year? I lost track of how long I had been working on these two quests, especially with how busy I got with the faker and all the planets I visit for playing the villain.

  As I looked at the screen I felt somewhat accomplished, but I also didn't care. I was plenty strong enough, and I didn't know of any possible Skills I could get. Any new Skills that became available for purchase will likely be about the random shit I've done as a 'villain', so I'm not really sure what options I'll have.

  Not accepting the Rewards right away, I decide to play my role just a bit more seriously. To do my usual Skill farming technique. Gaslighting.

  With a "Fools~! I am summoned when great EVIL is afoot! You cannot hide my fellow evil doers from my sight, as I can sense them~!" added to my lines, I aim for a way to determine who's a terrible person or not. Then with "Only chosen heroes can hope to defeat me~!" followed by choosing said heroes myself, I effectively have a way to bring others into my little game.

  It wasn't all fun and games though, as several planets had fallen into a state of chaos. Collapsing in on themselves as time went on with no 'master' to govern them. So some people became warlords and did horrible things.

  I wouldn't ever try and kill someone directly, but the few times I did was when they went too far. Raping, pillaging, and enslaving. Anything I could see as having gone over the line. Especially when some tried to do things to their young.

  When they crossed over the line, they would simply die instantly. Their body disintegrating nearly the instant I sensed them do something. The excuse I came up for doing that was "I'm EVIL! Of course I betray my comrades in darkness~!", which was pretty lame and I came up with it on the spot.

  I thought about inflicting torture on those I deemed too evil, but then my second oath would burn in my heart at the thought. So I mercy killed them with no pain. Forcing their souls to move on to whatever judgement they may or may not receive in the afterlife.

  Thankfully I didn't have to step in often, and it was super rare when it got bad enough that it was common place on an entire planet.

  I spent a long time going universe to universe, being a bad guy, getting kicked out of said universe, and leaving a local species in charge of the System for that universe.

  Until, inevitably, I reached the final planet of the last universe.

  "Cower beneath mine feet worms! For I~! The Dark Lord Azurath~! Have arrived!" I roared, using Jimmy's ability to increase his size to make me seem much larger then I actually was. My voice carried by the rules of Reality spread over every mile of the surface below.

  Make that several thousand times larger, as I was literally holding this planet in my 'hand'. The real me was floating in the massive helmet, while Jimmy formed a truly massive hollow 'villain mode' costume. The glove wasn't actually touching the surface of the planet, but the visuals on the surface from one of my hidden instances showed that it would work great.

  I got the reaction I wanted as the local species started freaking out. They were one of the rare shorter kind at only 2 feet tall, and appeared to be a kind of sapient jumping spider. It was pretty uncanny with how close their features were to the cute spider's from Earth.

  "What are we going to do?!"

  "What is that thing?!"

  "We're all going to die..."

  ... was the gist I was getting from just about every single one of them at once. I chuckled dramatically, flaring my cape as I made sure the atmosphere wouldn't obstruct their view of my awesome display.

  "There is nothing you could do to stop me~! Because none of you are the chosen... IMPOSSIBLE!" I feigned extreme fear, both of my hands coming up to my visor trembling as I 'let go' from the planet.

  "THE HERO IS HERE?!" I all but screamed, selecting some random spider with big determined eyes. Always go for the ones that show little to no fear, they make the best heroes usually.

  I pointed dramatically down at the spider, but since I was so large none of them knew exactly where I was pointing. The System knew though, and it confirmed the selection by granting her, Yrutha, some absurd hero based Skills. Followed by equally absurd special effects that made her glow white, alerting others around her that she was special in some way. A massive pillar of white light shooting up into the air and 'stabbing' into my visor. I got her name by finally being able to use my shitty Identification ability, as she wasn't that much higher than me in levels.

  "Huh?" Yrutha spoke a bit dumbly after the lights and sparkles went away from her selection, but that was okay. She would make a fine hero I'm sure.

  "Khg~! Curse you hero! I'll return to face you, after my minions THRASH YOU~!" I yell while clutching my visor, letting the System begin it's thing of fixing the natural order of the planet.

  Doing so reintroduces Dungeons, as the latent magic of the planet is freed from whatever the faker did to control it. Usually this would mean the Dungeons are insanely powerful because of how long the magic was suppressed for, but thankfully the System I was using to fix this mess was able to negate that issue by disposing the excess magic.

  The monsters that would spawn would be equally weak and easily taken care of. With a dramatic exit, I swirled my cape around myself as Jimmy shrunk back to his normal size in a second. Leaving motes of light as if the stars themselves consumed my form. I left the atmosphere clear of clouds for a few more moments after my disappearance and then let them flow naturally again, slowly closing the view hole I had created.

  I laid back casually in the void of space, gazing upon the planet with my newest hero with a small smile. Merely introducing the fixed System is enough for my oath to consider a universe helped, but that didn't sit right with me.

  So I make a big deal out of my arrival, select some hero and have them begin some grand quest to become stronger to defeat me, and leave their world a better place. It seems kind of mean, and it certainly is now that I think about it, to select some random person and dump this huge responsibility on their shoulders, but they will ultimately grow as a person and help spread hope to their people.

  I giggled as Yrutha suddenly got bombarded with questions by her fellow spiderfolk, looking incredibly uncomfortable and nervous.

  "Oh yeah. She is going to hate me~." I laughed to myself as I saw her run away from the crowd, moving much faster than she's used to from the Stat dump she got from the hero selection.

  Since I have already 'helped' this universe, I can leave at any time. I use this window to create multiple heroes for multiple planets, giving the native people the nudge they need to start rebuilding across many universes at once.

  Checking this universes System, it told me that this near barren rock actually looked like Earth originally. It would be surprising if Earth wasn't some kind of average looking life supporting planet. For some reason, almost every planet that can support life has an incredibly good chance of looking like Earth. It might not be exact, but it's close.

  I say that as someone who has visited hundreds of universes with millions of planets that support life. When they aren't so rare, they all end up looking pretty dang similar.

  "What's next on the list here..." I mumbled as I pulled up the System list of planets left to help, and find that this is the last one.

  I stare at it in silence for a moment, just thinking about what that meant.

  Whatever sense of responsibility I had for helping the universes that were under that fakers 'care', was now done. The only thing I had left to do was to just... be the bad guy one last time. It would take the heroes that I haven't already lost to a few more months of work before they were ready to kick my ass, but after that I would be free to do whatever.

  I could go home, visit pokemon land or whatever I could possibly imagine.

  That brought the question of what I actually wanted to do though.

  I had thought about visiting lands of fiction before, but that seems a bit... lame? There was something unpleasant about becoming what I can only imagine would be some OP self insert fanfiction main character, and I didn't vibe with it.

  Going home was an entire swimming pools worth of canned worms, since then I have to choose what to do about magic, Dungeons, and all that fun stuff. Not even mentioning that in order to leave I would have to help in some way. Help the universe that is, not just Earth.

  What about my family? I'm sure they pretty much accepted that I died doing something stupid, and suddenly popping up again after only God knows how long with some kind of mutation... I'm conflicted.

  I could go anywhere, be anyone, do anyTHING I could possibly want and more.

  The choices are, quite frankly, paralyzing.

  My previous plan was to help as many universes as I could on my way home, but I've already helped hundreds of them. When do I say enough is enough?

  "It's times like this I wish I could still talk to Jerald." I sighed as I thought back to my old... friend? Acquaintance?

  Jerald was something or someone I could talk to freely about anything at all, since he was the only thing that got past the green systems censorship. Even if it was just barely.

  For the first time in a long time, I felt the hint of a negative emotion.

  Loneliness, the usual suspect.

  Not enough to bother me, but I could tell it was there.

  I had gotten closer to my friends in the Mektra Guild, to Sally-1, and even the admins over the course of this year.

  But I could never be 100% myself with them, always hiding who I really am from them when it's not even my choice.

  My power, while awesome, was given to me from some kind of shady system that continues to be... strange.

  I hadn't accepted the Quest Rewards yet, and I had gotten them months ago, but it's been bringing them up almost every day for the past month, trying to get me to do something. Get more Quests, get stronger, and for what?

  What could possibly need to be done with more power than I already have?

  I'd probably be scared or more worried about it if my negative emotions weren't being blocked.

  As they were being blocked though, I ended up just floating above the final planet I felt responsible for.

  At a loss.

  ...

  "...What the hell do I do now?"

  ------------ End of Book 1 ------------

  "Final" Status: