Prologue (I)

"I've made it," in a dimly lit room a young man murmured, ecstatic at his great achievement.

<Congratulations, 1% progress achieved>.

<99% content not achieved. You rank as number 1>>

...

His eyes burned, but Harry couldn't stop a smile from forming on his lips as he looked at the incoming notification on his smartphone screen.

It was a magnificent feeling, many years of effort were not in vain.

He got up from his seat quickly, but sat back down at the same speed with which he got up, his legs were numb and it would be a disaster to try to walk in that state.

Even having cramped legs was not a good enough reason to hold back his elation, he had grown accustomed to his body's weakness over time.

Harry sighed remembering his short life story.

His first life... his damned first life, how many times had he thought about it?

After his death he transmigrated to another world where he started his second life, his current life.

Remembering everything that had happened during the last few years caused a bit of melancholy to cloud his face.

This was his second life and he regretted nothing, well... almost nothing.

His first life was too short, but he was relieved that it ended prematurely, it was better that way.

He was an orphan and poor in his first life, but that wasn't the problem.

He had lived in a complicated time.

The 22nd century, a great and auspicious century that began bloodily, or rather radioactively, with more explosions than stars in the sky.

For a little more than 20 years he barely survived in a radioactive, broken and cold world, it was more like torture than a dignified life, even he wondered how he had managed to stay alive for so long.

No... he knew...

He was immune to radiation at all levels and most of the diseases that plagued the planet back then, he had found out the worst way possible.

He shuddered at the memory of the past as he sank into his armchair.

He may have been the person with the greatest fortune, but he was born in the wrong era.

He had to witness how human lives were slowly and miserably extinguished, perhaps he was the last survivor of that decadent world.

In his last days he had only found corpses of humans and animals, all traces of civilization and life had been extinguished.

All his friends had died in front of his eyes, with no possibility of saving them, ultimately, he had lost everything.

His first overwhelming life ended after he decided to shoot himself in the head, he gave up in the end.

They were memories of a distant past that were not worth remembering, not now that he had another wonderful life.

Sighing for the umpteenth time, he remembered his current life.

At first he was pleasantly surprised to discover that he had another chance at life, but he had quickly adapted to the miraculous situation... however...

He was born in another world, a peaceful one, during the 21st century.

Technologically advanced and without much international friction, although a bit fearful of certain countries that were constantly provoking each other.

In his early days he had cried with emotion despite his hardened heart, that was what he had longed for most all his life.

A free and picturesque world without radioactive fallout that could kill you in less than a minute.

To his misfortune, his body was weak so he had to live in a bubble to survive, isolated from the bright world he sought so much, secluding himself in a special mansion, Harry lived his second life.

Even walking more than five minutes was suicidal.

He was born with too many diseases in his body and it was a miracle he had lived until now.

The times he had walked out of this mansion could be counted on one hand and he had almost died in all his attempts.

Somehow this life was worse than his previous life, at least in his first life he could move freely and was immune to almost everything harmful.

But that thought was instantly erased from his head.

"I'm an idiot," he scoffed at that depressing thought.

His second life was so much better than his first in many ways, there was no point of comparison whatsoever.

In this life he had a loving and well-to-do (multi-millionaire) family, a father he was proud of and a mother who comforted him, he was not so alone.

As an only child, he enjoyed many privileges so he was able to relax and live carefree, there wasn't much he could do anyway.

"I can't move around much... but I don't need to anyway."

He was 17 years old, a genius of the highest order, a versatile one at that, and for the past 17 years he had been living in Japan.

He didn't know the exact reason for his rebirth or what this "Japan" was, in his world this country had never existed, but he was grateful to whoever had given him the opportunity to live again.

In this advanced world all things and tasks could be completed from the comfort of his home, something convenient considering his special condition.

In that instant his hands moved unconsciously, as his fingers lovingly brushed against the virtual reality goggles.

"The pride of mankind", this recent invention was often referred to as.

It had been created 5 years ago with the purpose of entertaining people all over the world, but in the last few months it mysteriously evolved to a miraculous level, the game would not be a game anymore.

In itself, its origin was an enigma, let alone its revolutionary technology.

Out of nowhere a large Multinational called C.O.D.E had released the marvelous invention: [Infinitum], the first and only virtual reality world that existed.

An irreplaceable invention that was used for anything, Harry was addicted to [Infinitum], the medical sector benefited enormously from this invention and Harry knew it.

He was obsessed with finding a cure for his illnesses and this tool would help him.

[Infinitum] quickly became another world where humans used much of their time... no... it was now an unlimited Universe.

In short, it was the great heritage of humanity where you could do anything, it was realistic and fantastic at the same time.

Given its low cost of operation, almost everyone could afford the small luxury of integrating into this new "World".

He was one of the first people to join and as the notification on his cell phone showed, he established himself as the "strongest" (at least in that world).

It could be considered his third life, or at least for him it was, in that world he could walk without any worries.

Harry looked at the notification again.

One percent didn't seem like much, but considering that the new world was "unlimited" and that he had chosen the most difficult profession, it was an achievement worth celebrating.

After collecting countless [Golden Fingers], mysterious things that resembled common gray stones with no apparent use, he ranked number one.

At some point that "game" had turned into a status meter, assigning the value of each person and giving great benefits to those at the top.

Harry didn't understand or at least didn't care about the exact reasons why that was happening, he had benefited enough to stop caring about the intriguing reasons, his research in search of his cure was close to finding the answer, but even after much effort, he was still unable to get it.

Harry was frustrated.

<Ding>

<Congratulations, [Globetrotter <Balthor>] you have been selected as the pioneer for the new update, please confirm your acceptance or denial>.

*Beep*

His lips twitched - another update? What would they add this time?

He found it ridiculous how many massive updates were released in such short periods, but he couldn't complain, each update was more wonderful than the last.

Balthor... *Ehem* that name was so embarrassing.

Harry opened the notification and was surprised.

A blocking window popped up, apparently the information they sent him was exclusive content so he had to sign a confidentiality contract in order to continue.

He quickly did so and within seconds his eyes began to glaze over, he was a little disappointed, his goal was to heal and he was hoping that [Infinitum] would share some of their technology, but it didn't look like it would happen anytime soon.

Although he was disappointed, his interest was piqued as his eyes scanned all the images on his screen.

"Anime, manga and light novels? Web novels? What's this all about?"

Harry rubbed his chin, those terms were so foreign to him.

Harry watched carefully, he didn't want to miss any details.

...

"Awesome," Harry muttered after a few hours as he broke his concentration.

Apparently this "Anime" was an invention recently created by some unknown Japanese company, there were no exact details about the company, but that didn't matter.

What mattered was this invention called "anime".

Harry was distracted for a long time while studying "anime" and it completely paid off.

Pirates, ninjas, demons, angels and Gods of Death, Harry was quickly fascinated by all the stories, it had been many years since he had been entertained like this.

Although he was also disappointed, why were their endings so horrible?

All those stories had innovative concepts and only got better with time, but at some point it all got ruined, stupid romance, obnoxious characters, too much humor at the wrong times, did he mention the forced romance? Useless, cowardly, stupid main characters.

Shaking his head, Harry decided not to think too much about it, they were just stories and getting upset about them was absurd and childish, he just had to enjoy it.

Harry slid his finger as he navigated between various stories.

"..."

Without meaning to, his finger pressed against the corner of his phone, to be exact, on the "negotiation" button, all the details flashed in front of him.

A solemn expression came over Harry's face.

His eyes darted dizzily from left to right, his gaze deepening as he inhaled hot air.

"So... if I accept... they'll take care of healing my body, huh?", Harry bit his nails as he sank into deep thoughts, his weak spot was hit.

He found it all suspicious, it wasn't hard to get his personal information, on the contrary, it would be weird if they didn't know, but for them to put so much emphasis on "healing his body" as a reward if he showed "good results as a pioneer", it was too suspicious.

Harry continued reading the details, after a few seconds his frown relaxed.

It wasn't a difficult job, it didn't require the use of any special machinery so he could work from home without exposing himself to any danger.

Actually, he could say that the job was to become a Beta-Tester, find bugs and give his opinion of what was planned to be implemented in the new update.

His biggest concern was having to travel somewhere and be caged as a guinea pig.

From his humble option, his brain was unmatched and compensated for his lack of physical health, for that very reason he had a huge advantage when starting in that new world thus crowning himself number one.

After another hour, and with some suspicion, his finger slowly slid across the screen.

<Accept>.

His life would change from a simple touch, but he didn't know it at that moment.

.....