Woke Up to Find the Game I Made Came True

If even the ancient dragons could perish, what must the divine realm be like now?

"Ah-ee!"

The braying of a donkey snapped Ye Bai out of her deep reverie.

Both Ye Bai and the shadowy figure turned their gaze toward the donkey, which sauntered over like a boss and nudged its mouth toward Ye Bai.

Ye Bai, already accustomed to this, deftly pulled a loaf of bread from her backpack and stuffed it into the donkey's mouth.

"Chomp chomp." The donkey devoured the bread in two bites, wagged its tail contentedly, and gave Ye Bai an appreciative glance.

Ye Bai instinctively nodded in acknowledgment but then paused, suddenly casting a suspicious look at the donkey—

Was this donkey trying to gaslight her?

"..." Meeting the donkey's innocent gaze, Ye Bai averted her eyes and turned back to the eerie humanoid figure.

The donkey's interruption had reminded Ye Bai of the main topic, and she pressed on: "How could the ancient dragons have perished?"

"I don't know the full story," the eerie figure replied, his tone speculative. "But... the Sky City shattered, most of it fell, so it must have been a brutal war."

"Ah-ee ah-ee," the donkey brayed slowly, as if agreeing with his words.

"A war? Who could have destroyed them..." Ye Bai furrowed her brow, stopping mid-sentence. "The gods?"

The strongest among the ancient dragons could surpass level 100, reaching god-tier. With the innate traits of dragons, they were among the top-tier beings even among gods. Unless another level 100+ powerhouse intervened, Ye Bai couldn't imagine what else could have shattered the divine court.

"Oh? You know about the gods?" The eerie figure's tone rose in interest as he countered Ye Bai's question.

Of course... Ye Bai not only knew about the gods but also understood the other five races in the divine realm capable of producing god-tier powerhouses besides the ancient dragons: the Kingdom faction representing order and light, the Infernal beings representing chaos and magma, the Voidlings representing secrecy and intellect, the High Elves representing nature and balance, and the Deep Sea Clan representing all aquatic life.

Beyond these dominant races, the myriad realms also hosted a diverse array of other factions, such as the Weaving Clan Ye Bai was searching for and the dragonkin just mentioned. These were either offshoots or vassals of the six major factions.

The six factions had natural alliances, rivalries, and neutral stances. They were more powerful than players, closer to the 'primordial forces'—the divine bloodlines. Together with the other hundred races, they painted the grand tapestry of the divine realm.

Originally, after reaching the third tier, players could enter the divine realm, choose to join one of these factions, transform into a specific race, and participate in the realm's power struggles. There was no fixed script; players' actions would shape the world's trajectory. This was the essence of the "open-world game" experience Ye Bai ultimately sought.

While the overall style of the myriad realms leaned toward strategy and management, "Shattered Divine Court" was more of a traditional RPG—an immersive otherworldly adventure.

But knowing all this, Ye Bai naturally wouldn't share it with the eerie figure. Instead, she resorted to vague responses:

"Just a little, just a little."

"Oh..." The eerie figure, unsure if he detected Ye Bai's evasiveness, hummed in acknowledgment before continuing, "Actually, it wasn't just the ancient dragons that perished... Would you like to know more? If so, you'll need to..."

"Wait, I don't want to know more."

The familiar tone of a quest-giver made Ye Bai cut him off immediately.

The eerie figure, about to continue: "...Huh?"

"Here's the thing," Ye Bai said with a serious expression.

While she wanted to learn more about the divine realm, the eerie figure's words were steering toward the cause of the destruction. This reeked of a major questline, possibly even a grand main storyline.

Ye Bai had no intention of taking on such a quest at her current level of 20-something. Moreover, she had already gleaned one crucial piece of information from him—"It wasn't just the ancient dragons that perished."

This implied that the other five major factions might also have undergone drastic changes, or worse, they too might have been wiped out...

With the ancient dragons setting the precedent, Ye Bai could accept the possibility of more factions meeting the same fate.

From her earlier inquiries about the dragons, it was clear that the eerie figure didn't know the full story—or at least, he wouldn't reveal more details without her completing his quest. Since it all boiled down to speculation, why bother triggering an unknown quest?

Ye Bai hadn't even figured out the eerie figure's origins. He might not be a benevolent character, cursed to exist only as a 'two-dimensional' entity, with who-knows-what lurking behind him.

Unlike other realms, the divine realm had no fixed storyline or functional NPCs, only different factions. This meant quests could often be mutually exclusive, forcing players to make choices. Picking the wrong side early on could lock players into a path with no way to switch allegiances later.

For example, in two opposing questlines, without knowing the full context, an NPC might task a player with killing someone, only for the player to later discover that the opposing questline involved protecting that very person.

In such cases, even if the player immediately tried to switch sides, would the NPCs on the other side still accept them? Of course not—they'd just draw their weapons and attack.

The eerie figure seemed taken aback by Ye Bai's abrupt refusal—if it could even be called a refusal. She had outright cut him off.

After a long silence, the eerie figure finally spoke again, his tone light once more:

"I see. In that case, what about the dragon's treasure vault we mentioned earlier..."

Ye Bai: "I'm not interested in that either."

Eerie figure: "Uh..."

The atmosphere grew awkward. Ye Bai sat in silence, the eerie figure remained motionless on the white stone, the crackling of the campfire and the rhythmic swishing of the donkey's tail the only sounds.

After a while, perhaps sensing the awkwardness, Ye Bai looked up at the eerie figure and, as if struck by a thought, suddenly asked:

"By the way, if you don't even remember your own name, how do you know all this?"

The eerie figure paused before answering: "The curse binds me to the written word. Within and beyond the text, I exist as an observer, witnessing many events unfold."

Ye Bai pressed further: "Did you ever speak with the ancient dragons?"

"No," the eerie figure's head-like etchings shifted slightly, as if shaking his head. However, the abstract, stick-figure-like carvings on the stone made it hard to discern any detailed features beyond a vague head shape.

"So I don't know the exact reason for the dragons' downfall," he explained.

Ye Bai's brow twitched. From this, it seemed the eerie figure had appeared in the dragon graveyard after the ancient dragons' demise.

"I see... So you must have been around here for a long time, which explains why you're so familiar with the area."

"Exactly," the eerie figure agreed.

Ye Bai then casually continued: "You mentioned dragonkin undead to the south—what kind of dragonkin are they?"

"There are the Dragon-Scaled Clan, the Half-Dragons..." The eerie figure listed two before abruptly stopping. "If you're interested, perhaps we could discuss the dragon's treasure vault?"

"Never mind," Ye Bai hesitated, changing the subject. "Let's talk about something else."

"Of course, no problem," the eerie figure replied cheerfully.

And so, two masters of deflection began a game of verbal tug-of-war.

Ye Bai tried to extract information, while the eerie figure aimed to assign quests. Neither got what they wanted.

Perhaps because Ye Bai was the only being around he could communicate with, the eerie figure answered all her questions. But he had learned to steer the conversation, bringing up quests every time Ye Bai tried to dig deeper.

Finally, the two of them chatted aimlessly until dawn. It felt like they had exchanged a lot, but upon closer reflection, it turned out to be mostly nonsense, with no real information shared.

As soon as the sky brightened, Ye Bai stood up from beside the campfire—it was time to head south to the Dragonborn to get some Weaving Clan fabric.

Ye Bai turned her gaze to the donkey, which also seemed well-rested. She fed it a piece of bread, and while it was happily munching away, she gave it a meaningful look:

"So, how about it? Can I ride you?"

"Eee-aw!"

The donkey clearly understood. It suddenly swallowed the bread in a hurry and bolted.

Ye Bai’s eyes narrowed, and she immediately took off after it, calling out a farewell to the eerie humanoid figure she had spent the night talking to:

"It was 'pleasant' chatting with you. Let’s meet again if fate allows!"

Even though she shouldn’t feel tired in a virtual reality game, that night had left her mentally drained. That eerie humanoid must have been an incredibly stubborn and difficult person before being cursed!

"Daybreak already? Time flies, as you said. I look forward to our next…"

Before the eerie humanoid could finish speaking, Ye Bai had already chased after the donkey and disappeared from sight.

"Good… bye."

The ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌‍eerie humanoid slowly uttered the last two words, its figure vanishing along with them on the white boulder, where the dragon language script returned to normal.

...

Meanwhile, Ye Bai chased the donkey all the way through the Dragon Tomb ruins, eventually arriving at a long downward slope.

Ahead lay a thick, ominous black fog. The donkey, which had been running just moments ago, came to a halt here.

Ye Bai caught up and stood beside it. "What’s the matter?"

The donkey simply glanced at her and didn’t make a sound.

Ye Bai looked at it, deep in thought. Earlier, she had only tried to ride it, but the creature had run off again, and coincidentally, it had headed exactly where she had planned to go—south.

If it was a coincidence, it was too much of one.

Seeing this, Ye Bai took out another piece of bread.

Sure enough, the donkey didn’t hesitate for a second. It immediately stretched its head over and started munching on the bread in her hand.

Ye Bai leaned in close to the donkey’s ear and suddenly said, "You can understand us, can’t you? Otherwise, how would you know to head south?"

"Munch munch…"

The donkey ignored her, fully focused on chewing the bread.

Ye Bai continued, "But that person said only those who understand dragon script can see him."

"Munch… *hiccup*."

The donkey, mid-swallow, suddenly choked.