Magnus was transported into the stratosphere. There, the advanced system showed itself.
[Welcome potential student! As the representation of good you were given the gift of time and the power to grant potential upon the mortal beings down below.]
[The other candidate in turn was sent to a special plane, where, depending on his performance he will build his army.]
After hearing those words, he was presented with several options to unlock the potential of mankind he knew.
As he looked down on humans, he found out that it was identical to his previous world. Everything was the same except him.
Not that it impacted the world, his sphere of influence could be compared to a pebble. Depressing thoughts aside, he scanned the globe a few times before smirking to himself.
When the overseer couldn't see that Magnus was not the original soul, he felt at ease.
People, or rather the 'monsters' he knew from his past life were all there. Most of these monsters were his former 'porters'. He'd also noted some others that he remembered from his past life.
Looking back at his previous system, he later found out that he could not progress as well as before. Each incremental improvement consumed huge amounts of EXP and the danger-to-reward ratio fell too hard.
Early on it was a blessing as the amount of EXP was not as high. However, in exchange the system didn't 'unlock' potential, but rather raised it up, at least that's the conclusion he came to.
Working out, trying various things to get more powerful through mana was ineffective. His only way to gain power was through EXP and grinding skills. He knew that this was a cheap and cost effective way to get by in the world.
But it was nowhere near close to defeating that student. That man was not simple and not even his current body could see through him. If he is determined to fight against it, he has to unlock their potential rather than trying to raise it up.
There were a lot of options that would use mana as a fuel to raise their potential.
From a cultivation/mana core style to using personal artifacts in a symbiotic relationship to boost power and potential all the way up to using bloodlines.
Every style has its own benefits and drawbacks. Cultivation's goal is longevity so that was a no-go. Talents could only make use of Mana core styles to a greater extent, and since this was a world without mana, very few talents could use it effectively.
And as much as he liked quality over quantity, the amount of quality he could nurture in such a short time was limited.
And then it hit him. The potential of the body was something humans lacked because of the lack of mana, but what they never lacked was their imagination.
All the things they built, monsters of fiction and steel machines, originated from imagination, then became reality through experimentation.
So, why not let humans figure it out and just constantly nudge them in the right direction? Give them the tools and the freedom to form mana in ways they think is right, and if it's wrong just somehow reset their progress.
"This might work," Magnus thought as he decided. His 'gift' of time was basically a 1 year grace period where he would not be attacked.
And the power to grant potential was basically a kingdom-building tool. He would receive certain points each 'Earth' month before the first year where he could gain points only from fighting against his opponent.
Luckily, the system wasn't so merciless and gave him a number of templates that were generally tested and used.
One of those was a system that he had received in his past life. Magnus used these templates to learn from the greats.
In this Universe, even using the stars as a way to gain power was possible. Alternatively he could also drive animals onto a path of rapid evolution.
This would grant them wisdom rivalling that of humans and was one of the better strategies. The only problem was that at one point the animals, like with the EXP system massively slow down and their power up path almost mirrors that of a cultivator.
1000 years for a small breakthrough was something he would not like to participate in.
What caught his eyes was an interesting template. The 'student' or in this case him would split their consciousness into pieces and they would create 'Gods'.
These 'Gods' would manifest in myriad forms, but their believers would inherit the main element of those 'Gods'.
Eventually, if a mortal were to walk their 'God's' path to the point of rivaling a god, they would inherit this position. His split consciousness would create another 'divinity'.
Magnus found his magnum opus. 'Belief' is something that fueled the world and is fueling it even today.
Humans were nearly unstoppable when they had 'goals'. Humans with enough discipline, willpower and a goal to strive forward are beautiful.
With a rough idea in his mind he began his work.
First he used a sum of his points to create an illusion that would last half a year. A 'tutorial' if you will.
A tutorial he made sure to participate in, after all every new game needs a reliable beta tester right?
...
Jeremy was a high school student without any specific goals in mind. He was quite simple and all he ever wanted was to have a nice wife and a kid or two.
While others around him were reaching out to see if they could expand their horizons, and see the world.
He did only the bare minimum. He didn't suffer from depression or anything, but something was missing.
The only thing that would fill up the emptiness albeit for just a while was working out. But even that wasn't enough especially when he was inching kilo by kilo towards the 'human' limit.
It was then that the world around him changed. The familiar streets were empty, replaced by stone walls and the screams of brave men in armor fighting something unknown.
A wave of something had hit Jeremy and before he could even panic something was awoken deep inside of him.
He didn't question why or who these people were. Jeremy just climbed one of the walls and the sight beyond took his breath away.
The vast expanse filled with raging monsters he had seen in games and movies was right beside his eyes.
He found it. His muscles were screaming with joy.
[Welcome to the self-improvement system!]
[Here you will discover what you can achieve. The limit is not the sky, but your imagination! The desire to see beyond the skies beyond the stars! Reignite the flame long forgotten, the flame which your Ancestors used to build your glorious future!]
Like a bull memories rammed into his brain. Mana had seeped deep into his body. For the first time in his life, he was fully satisfied.
"Beautiful..." Jeremy said as he flexed his muscles. In the moment of intoxication he jumped down, grabbed a sword from a fallen soldier and rushed at the fantasy monsters.
But before he had a chance to swing, before his entire being could express his joy, he was reduced to little more than a paste by the Ogre's random swing.
This sight was repeated thousands of times across hundreds of strongholds fighting for their lives. They were on the verge of desperation when they saw the 'civilians' and how they ran to their deaths. Even if it was just scratching an orc or goblin, it was enough.
Except that the 'civilians' never stopped rushing to their death and gradually the soldiers noticed how the civilians started doing more and more damage.
They were thrown into a foreign land, a place where they were free to express their long-lost desires and bravery.
Soon they wielded more than longswords through manifesting their mana. Through their imagination, they made the impossible possible.
Scythes slicing and then turning into hammers, spears extending for a few meters before coming back.
Blade couldn't possibly cut well at that angle? Doesn't matter! As long as they imagined that their blade would slice them through, they would!
People got more creative and by day 1, machinery, faint images of prehistoric animals, mythical beings, weapons formed by imagination or those used in history, everything humans could think of was formed.
...
[Congratulations for completing your rite of passage!]
The monsters retreated for the day and the desperate humans cheered.
The once inhibited and meek people now held weapons that took dozens of lives. They never once showed any remorse because yet another flash of remorse flashed across their retinas.
[Humans, you have half a year in purgatory to ready yourselves and another half a year on your home planet to build your fortresses. Before monstrosities thousand times worse invade. The opportunity to survive is yours to grasp.]
Those once illiterate could now speak and read a foreign language that they had never heard of. Something not only they, but everyone now could.
Everyone on Earth was now tethered together by an invisible cord for one simple reason: survival.
They didn't doubt it, they didn't wallow. The once irrational species had been pacified. Although temporary, this effect was to some degree due to 'purgatory'.
Who knows if the unity will last after they return to Earth?
The soldiers didn't question the sudden appearance of Earthlings and they didn't question anything about the soldiers.
Each day a wave would arrive and each day it would baptize humans thousands of times. Some, even with the willpower attribute began to show signs of weakening, but were quickly brought up by their fellow brethren.
Groups of people were formed, the stronger individuals explored the wilderness to find more fortressess in order to find their family and friends.
With the guidance of the system, creating fires was as easy as snapping a finger and the movement of mana. As the waves grew in strength, sometimes the fortress would fall.
Earthlings may replenish by the nature of respawning, but once a soldier died, he would be dead forever.
Only through a constant stream of reinforcements could the fortress stand tall.
On day 10 huge schools of fish swimming through the air were added to the equation.
At day 12 those fish were accompanied by Megalodon-like monstrosities.
Day 20 and they were introduced to magic-spewing enemies.
Day 30 was a huge baptism as dozens of fortresses fell to Wyverns. Now the soldiers had to cooperate with Earthlings to protect the reinforcements as huge worms burst from the ground to attack the backlines.
As a result, the fortressess had a mana-reinforced ground to prevent all of those things from happening. Soon there weren't just new monsters, but also their evolutions, mutations, and most importantly of all, they began to learn...
...
"Let's see how resilient this body can get." Magnus thought as he possessed a body that he invested an amount of points rivalling almost that of what he threw into 'purgatory'.
It was a body identical to an Earthling, but it was bathed in mana for thousands of years. This granted it unrivaled sensitivity and capacity.
At the beginning, he felt horrible as he lost his superior senses, his natural power, and was reduced back to a stronger human. But he quickly got over it as familiar sensations became apparent.
He, unlike others who were sent into fortresses, set his own spawnpoint in a wilderness.
His first few days were relatively uneventful, as weak monsters couldn't locate him with accuracy when he employed stealth magic.
During those days he spent his time trying out various spells. Soon, however, he was confronted with limitations. To use his mana for even 0,01% of his previous vision or senses would drain him in a second.
If he wanted to use earth sensing on a scale larger than 1m3, he had to strengthen his brain. This is because the amount of raw information popped his brain into pieces.
This created a significant divide between information-enhancing skills and simple attacks. While he was buying the properties the 'purgatory' would possess, he noticed one small detail.
One of these was respawning.
He had no idea why it was so cheap, but it returned the user to peak condition each time they died. And their progress wouldn't be reset.
Therefore, a human with enough naturally built willpower or willpower induced by the system could potentially explode their brains for half a year straight. This would enable them to strengthen their brains.
The method was crude at first, but with gradual overload, each 1% increased by 300% each day for a while.
He had also explored the idea of bloodlines. One interesting fact was that his most powerful bloodline he could 'create' had 0% chance of producing any offspring.
Nonetheless, he could, at any time, downgrade his bloodline to improve his odds.
His weakest moments might be in bed...