1 The Final Quest

"Just a little bit more, don't die yet!"

I mumbled, lying on top of my bed. My favorite game, <Otherworld Online> was running on my phone. It's a black iPhone 8, made by Rene. Rene just released their newest phone, the iPhone 25.

Yes, my phone's super obsolete. It can't call anyone and even the information on the search app is wrong. It calls itself "Google," but everyone knows that the top search engine is RN. Also made by Rene. Of course, there are other search engines. Maybe this is a super futuristic engine. After all, this phone seems to be from the future...

All the information's wrong anyway.

Why do I even have this phone then? Only one reason. The game <Otherworld Online> can only be found here.

Where I got this phone, I have no idea. I'm pretty sure my parents didn't give it to me, as I remember having it as far as I can remember.

I actually have a super great memory. It borders on eidetic, but it's not quite there. I remember having this phone since I was two. And strangely, the iPhone 8 didn't even come out yet.

I didn't know what a phone was at the time, so it stayed in my bed. At three, I already had a room to myself. I was pretty mature for my age, but not mature enough to know what a smartphone was. Smartphones were not even out yet. They came out that year.

I kept it under my bed. I don't know why, but something told me to hide it from my parents. That was probably a good thing, because if my parents saw the phone, they would freak out. I mean, advanced technology that only came out later in the year is probably freaky for them.

It didn't freak me out. First of all, I didn't know what that was. Secondly, I seem to have had it from birth. Don't ask me why I had it, or how my parents didn't see it. I don't remember that far back.

Anyway, the phone stayed hidden until my parents bought me a phone in fourth grade. Er, let me go back.

Once I figured out what a smartphone was, I was shocked. This realization happened when I was five, when my mom bought the new iPhone 3. Obviously, it was inferior compared to an iPhone 8. I freaked out big time. I had advanced technology! Plus, later when the iPhone 24 came out, I realized that my phone was even smoother than the latest phone! There was no lag at all!

After a while—okay, one minute—I cautiously pressed the power button. I didn't toss the phone, or show it to my parents. I definitely didn't spend the whole night staring at the phone instead. I only did that after opening the App Store. There was only one app. This app never appeared on the iPhone 8 I got in fourth grade. Nor the iPhone 22 I use now.

In fourth grade, I got a phone. It was the same model as my gaming phone. It wasn't a coincidence.

The night before, as I was grinding slimes, I got a notification. It said, "Tap here to order a phone!" I thought it was a scam. Besides, I wasn't old enough to buy anything. However, I still tapped on it. I was nine, okay!

A list of phones came up. It went all the way to the iPhone 100. Some were thin, some were super long. By now, I know this phone is probably magical or maybe from the future. So seeing those options wasn't too surprising.

I decided to tap on the black iPhone 8. If this was real, I could hide my gaming phone using a real iPhone 8. I mean, the gaming phone can't call or message anyone. It only has one app and can't even take pictures. What happens if my parents see the phone? I now hide it in a hollow book, but I can't hide it forever...

The next day, my parents tell me they bought an iPhone 8. At 11:42 at night. One minute after I "ordered" a phone.

It was a bit scary to know that my phone could influence people. But then I remembered why I hid my phone when I was three...

I resolved to never touch the phone again. And this resolve lasted a whole night. A whole night! You should know that I'm a total game addict by now. My sleep cycle is reversed. Lasting a whole night is impressive.

Actually, the only reason I lasted so long was because I fell asleep...

I tried to stop playing <Otherworld Online,> but all other games were incredibly boring! I only wanted to play <Otherworld Online.> I even had a dream about the game. In it, I was playing the game late at night...

I used the new phone as a cover. When I got another phone in sixth grade, I tossed the normal iPhone 8 somewhere and said that I kept the phone for nostalgia. I used the next phone for ordinary things and hid my gaming phone in plain sight. My parents never discovered my phone's strange features. I also never got a notification from it again.

That is, until last year in my final year of middle school...

//////////

The students were gathered in front of a banner that said, "Congrats Class of 2019!" For some reason, my middle school holds a graduation ceremony on the scale of a high school's.

My parents were taking pictures of me, saying, "I love you Keltrex!" It was a happy occasion.

A different homeroom's class was singing Wutera's, the country I live in, national anthem. I hid in the back and gamed. My ceremony was finished and I just had to wait for the last class.

I battled the final boss in-game. I managed to break his mask off, and it shattered to reveal-

"Brother?" my avatar in-game exclaimed. A teen with black hair answered. He was wearing a gray cloak with a hood and a strange pendant. "Yes, it was me Keltrex. Did you miss me?"

Wait what?! My avatar's lost brother, who I've been searching for in this whole storyline was the final boss?! I mean, it's cliche, so I did suspect it. But in a prior quest, I saw him fighting the enemy army. Then the king who separated us in the first place dragged him away.

Oh wait, it's a "kidnapped by the enemy and turned against my sibling" situation, isn't it.

Sure enough, my avatar said, "That king misled you! You've been corrupted by him!"

The guy laughed. "What are you talking about? I'm the one who killed him!"

...Wut?

"What?!" my avatar said. "Have your memories been manipulated?" Oh, good point. In the annual Christmas event, there was something about a champion who had her memories changed so she thought she was the ruler of her kidnappers. The developers didn't copy and paste the background story, did they?

But, it's only expected. This game was complete when I got the phone. I was the only one on the server, but for some reason there was still events and messages. I suspect the game wasn't really finished and the developers secretly update the game. However, since it's the future, as long as they update quick no one will notice. Besides, I'm the only one in the game. The game only has one server.

"My" brother stared at my avatar like he was an idiot. "Of course not. I'm from a parallel world, in the future. I died and was transported to this body. But it already had a consciousness, so I could only act as a spectator. But your foolish brother got himself killed when he tried to escape. The person you call the "king" decided to kill him instead of leaving him to grow stronger.

"What, you think that he was going to keep your brother as a hostage? He was going to do that, but after seeing how strong your brother was getting during the escape, he decided to just kill him off. Don't want to leave a powerful enemy alive, now do we?

"As for me, once that pathetic excuse for a person died, I was able to take him over. I retained all my powers and killed the king. I then took over the whole army. Bet you didn't see that coming!"

...I really didn't. He broke every single cliche. Okay, he's from the future. Okay, he's from an alternate world. But why both? Why didn't he die when my avatar's brother did? And wait a minute, THE FREAKING GAME PRODUCERS KILLED OFF AN IMPORTANT CHARACTER!!!

There was supposed to be a happy reunion, not a tragedy! I can't even save him if I kill this intruder. Damn you otherworldly, futuristic ghost!

"Damn you otherworldly, futuristic ghost!" My avatar screamed as the boss fight restarted. Oh, the phone read my thoughts again. That was a good line after all.

You would think that an epic boss fight would last super long. Actually, the more powerful the enemies are, coupled with your own power, the shorter the fights are. People only have a certain amount of HP. Both my avatar and the boss have an equal amount of HP. I died quickly.

I died a total of 43 times. The second-to-last class was singing. My class had gone first after a quick rock-paper-scissors.

On the 44th try, I finally killed the invader ghost.

"No, how could I lose? I prepared for this day for years!"

"Me too, buddy." My avatar spoke my thoughts. "By the way, what's your name?" I can't call him "the final boss" forever.

"Remember my name...Kai..." And he croaked.

Whelp, time for quest rewards.

[<The Final Quest> Completed. Rewards: 500 silvagems, 50,000 Adventure Level XP, 1 <Otherworld Destroyer.>]

The ultimate weapon, the <Otherworld Destroyer!> It's a rank six weapon! You should know that the highest rank is six. A rank six weapon is basically broken! The final quest in the game is definitely worth it.

The ending cutscene started. It talked about peace returning, my avatar mourning his brother, kingdoms rebuilding, blah blah blah. Usually I would skip this, but the storyline is finally finished. So I watched it.

After the cutscenes ended, my avatar returned to the starting city. For some reason, I had a ton of world and side quests related to cleaning up the aftermath. I also had a main quest to talk to a man who appeared at the entrance of the city. Wasn't I finished with the storyline? The quest even said it was the final quest...

I moved my avatar over to the entrance. Two stone pillars stood stoically beside an arch. Two guards held halberds, looking serious. But I know that their character settings are actually funny and amiable people.

The man had white hair, although he only looked around thirty. Then again, the people in the game have colorful hair, so it doesn't stand out too much. My avatar has black hair with a red highlight. The avatar has the side with the highlight sticking out on one side. It was kind of spiky. Cough cough, don't blame me. I made it when I was five. I went through my chunni phase early. I can't change it. Anyway, no one will see it.

Although, all the characters in the game are the same. I suspect the game developers are overage chunnis.

I talked to the man. "Hello there. Welcome to Onnestat. My name is Keltrex."

"Thank you for welcoming me young one. You may call me the System. I have come to gift you something."

Oh, is this the gift for completing the game? But I already have a six star sword. What else could I get?

"Here you go." The System avatar took out a flat, rectangular block. It looked like a black card, albeit with aqua blue lights running through it. "Please take care of my son."

"What? Are you giving me your child?"

First of all, I can't raise a kid. I'm only thirteen! Second of all, I don't see a baby anywhere.

The card flashed aqua. A silhouette popped out of it. The lights faded to reveal a teenager with white hair and gray eyes. He was kind of thin...make that really thin. Has this man been starving the poor kid?!

Oh right, he stuffed his poor kid in a card and told me to take car of him. What a bad dad.

"This is Valyn. Please take care of him." The man then dispersed into a bunch of white lights. The kid also dissipated.

How dare that man disown his son and dump him onto me! This was the avatar of the game developers?! Why did they use such a bad way to give me something? Just send it in the mail!

[<The Mysterious Man> Completed. Rewards: 1 <Valyn.>]

Oh, he is a character? Well, that's great! But still, just let him come to me, why did they make his father abandon him...

Well, this is only a game, after all. No matter how strange and magical the phone is, this game hasn't done anything. I've played it for eight years and nothing happened. It's not like the world will suddenly become real. The information in "Google" doesn't even mention the world of <Otherworld Online!>

'Let's check Valyn's information.' I entered my character list and tapped on Valyn.

Valyn popped up on screen with the basic weapon for sword users, the <Rusty Blade.> I looked at the information for the elemental types and star ratings.

'What?! What is this?!'

Valyn is a rank six. That is shocking, but not too much as I have a six star weapon. It was probably supposed to go with Valyn. But the real shocker is his type!

[Type: System]

There are six types, zap, venti, hydro, pyrus, frozen, and geo. There is no "system" type! I have never even heard of it! Then again, it's a gift from the game developers, or the System itself. I guess the character they give me should be totally broken.

'Oh, but I can't level him by feeding him XP books. He has to level manually.'

Normally, the best way to get XP would be using XP books. I use them to level my characters to the max before they have to evolve. I don't know why they call it evolving. They don't change physically. They only increase their level cap and add a new skill.

Without the XP books, it's an incredible pain to level the characters. You have to complete a million quests or slay millions of monsters for them to reach the first level cap. Each evolution phase has a level cap of twenty more than the last phase.

'Well, this character would be broken without the restriction.' His skills are OP. His normal attack bugs the enemy and gives them all sorts of status effects. His basic skill lets him heal all characters, including himself to the max and deals damage to an enemy. The damage dealt depends on how much the skill heals. So, if all my characters are almost dead, the monster I'm fighting will instantly die!

Although it can't revive characters, it's still OP! And that's only the basic skill. If I evolve him and get a new skill, then I bet it will be even more epic!

As for his ultimate skill, it has a 30% chance to instakill the enemy it's used on. The probability gets better when he evolves. Eventually, it turns into an AoE attack and instakills everyone in the area. If it's the other 70%, then the skill deals AoE damage. The enemies within the skill get a status effect called "glitch" which paralyzes them all for ten seconds. Ten whole seconds.

Remember that battles in the later stages are super short. Just a one second difference is big, not to mention ten! The duration gets even longer after Valyn evolves!

I mean, it's not like one second is the difference between life and death. But I can still deal a boatload of damage in that time.

Now, about ultimate skills. They can be activated after a certain amount of elemental orbs are collected. The more damage a character's elemental skill—or just skill—does, the more orbs are collected. Each character can only have one ultimate skill.

While I equipped Valyn with the six star sword, the last class finished their ceremony. Parents and their kids reunited. My parents hugged and kissed me as soon as I got near. I wasn't embarrassed though. Everyone else's parents are doing that. No one laughs, so why should I be embarrassed? Even if they did, is it bad that my parents love me? No. I don't understand why people are embarrassed about their parents.

My phone suddenly dinged with a notification. Not my iPhone 22, my gaming iPhone 8. I froze. The last time there was a notification, my phone controlled my parents. Wait, why am I worried? It didn't do anything bad, so it should be fine.

I pulled my phone out. But before I could even turn it on, I heard gasps all around me. I look up and around me and see...

Glowing screens. Screens that say [Welcome to <Otherworld Online!>]

I turn on my phone.

[You have unlocked the world gaming system! Now you can play in real life!]

This phone has changed the world.