CH1: Into The Frying Pan

Welcome to the Game

Was he losing his mind, had he finally fallen off the deep end, or was there a gas leak, and this was his mind shutting down in the coolest way possible? Red slapped his knee. Maybe his buddy Zack wasn't a complete nutcase, after all, talking about them all becoming gamers and the world as they knew it was ending.

Red was floating in the laziest way possible in a black void with a big beautiful screen everywhere he turned. It looked like Red was a lucky dog after all. While the lack of detail and flashing screen pointed to the lights going out, was there any harm in humoring this little delusion? Maybe it was real; that would be neat.

He slapped his hands together and felt the pressure but not the sound. That either meant his mind didn't have enough neurons left to simulate sound or he was in an actual void. Somehow, his unprotected body didn't swell up like a balloon. His eyes still felt very much in his skull.

A big smirk spread across his face. He liked the idea of becoming a gamer. Oh, he read them all, good and evil. He really hoped he wouldn't get a gamer's mind or emotion suppression, which sounded like a great way to become an emotionless machine. Machines had no will other than what was programmed into them.

He focused back on the words.

Welcome To The Game

They were very patient. He liked that.

"All right, go for it. What does it mean to play the game?" Red asked.

Analyzing host…

Initializing Interface…

Choose an interactive AI companion to mediate between the gamer and the greater system. Warning: this choice can't be changed.

"Could I choose Cortana?" Red asked.

Cortana from Halo is an acceptable choice. Do you choose Cortana as your AI interface personality matrix?

"No, I wanted an example. What about Arcee from Transformers Prime since we can use famous franchises?" Red asked.

Arcee is an acceptable choice. If she is your chosen AI interface.

Cortana would be a better choice than Arcee, who was too motherly and protective. What Red needed was someone willing to push him when he was being complacent and have his back when things went to shit. This was way more important than classes or anything else he might pick.

To reach the pinnacle, he needed a kickass coach. In all his search through anime, there was one terrifying entity that might get him to the top even if she had to take him there kicking and screaming.

"No, what about N2 from Nier Automata? She is also called the red girl." Red said.

Red Man meets Red Girl. It was a match made in hell, which was probably where he was going if his brain was really shutting down.

The game seemed to pause, and Red swore he heard a door open and close. Minutes passed with no response, and then the game flashed.

Are you certain you want to use N2, the machine lifeform program hijacked by the remnants of the white flower of destruction, as your AI interface?

"I know the lore. She seemed like a nice girl to have in my corner. I choose N2, the machine lifeform intelligence and representation of the white flower." Red said.

Loading AI Interface…

Installing Personality Matrix..................

From this point forward, N2 will take over your entry into the game.

A white light devoured the black until gravity reasserted itself, and he fell onto a brown-tiled platform. He heard a sound like static, and then a girl in a red dress appeared in front of him. A creepy smirk appeared on her face.

She reached down and squeezed his cheeks. "A human wishes to evolve beyond themselves. How can I say no? Congratulations, you chose the best Nier to have in your corner."

N2 vanished, and he felt rather good about himself.

The human mind has trouble dealing with infinity, so we are going to go about your evolution one bite at a time. Select a world to determine the classes available to you.

Red rubbed his face. Did she have to pinch him so hard? How did she even do that? Maybe it was where they were. Whatever, he just needed to pick the best world to start in.

World Select

Rosario Vampire

Highschool DXD

Naruto

Bleach

One Piece

Supernatural

Devil May Cry

Percy Jackson

My Hero Academia

Demon Slayer

Dragon Ball Z

Pokemon

Digimon

All of them were dangerous in their ways, and Red needed to hit the ground running. That's why he chose a coach like N2. She was going to do her best to make him evolve. If he acted like an idiot, she would kick his ass until he got his shit under control. It also meant that he would get dragged into the plot no matter what he did. If the plot made him stronger, then that's what he would face.

"Rosario Vampire?" Red asked.

Select your class

Archetype

Warrior

Mage

Tamer

Rogue

Cleric

"Wait, where did the tamer come from?"

A sweet, almost angelic voice answered him. "I completed a new archetype from the data available."

"Sweet!" Red looked over the archetypes. "I won't let your hard work go to waste," Red said.

Tamer Archetype chosen.

Select a specialization.

Beast Tamer, Monster Tamer, Celestial Tamer, Undead Tamer, Demon Tamer

Red selected Monster Tamer. He didn't need to be spoon-fed, but this seemed like the best possible decision.

Initializing Choice…

Integrating status Window

Red lvl1

Class: Monster Tamer lvl1 +2 Mystic and +1 Insight.

Perks: N/A

Resources

HP: 100/100

MP: 100/100

SP: 100/100

Attributes

BDY(Body): 5 – The physical toughness and health of the body concerning the physical world

RGN(Regeneration): 5 – How quickly the user recovers their mana, health, and stamina resources.

STR(Strength): 5 – The weight the user can lift and how much damage their physical attacks deal.

END(Endurance): 5 – How long can the user maintain a physical action?

REF(Reflex): 5 – Reaction time and acceleration to the user's top speed.

SNS(Sense): 5 – The five basic senses and their sensitivity to environmental changes.

MST(Mystic): 5 – The connection to everything related to the dream realm and beyond where physical law becomes suggestions. It also determines the user's MP and the power behind spells.

RCT(Resist) 5 – The user's resistance to changes from the dream realm and beyond.

INS(Insight): 5 – The user's ability to perceive the realm beyond the physical. No matter how high the mystic attribute, they can't be accessed without the ability to perceive higher realms.

Skills

Lesser Tame lvl1/10

+1% MST when taming monsters

Lesser Monster Storage lvl1/10

+1% RGN when monsters are stored.

Selecting A Rosario Vampire World with the greatest chance of provoking evolution.

Wait, what did that mean? Was he not going to the big tittied high school of his dreams?

"Maybe you should stick with a normal world for the first jump," Red said.

Negative Evolution only comes from environmental pressures. Known dangers only make the user complacent about following the beaten path.

Rosario Vampire Located

Description: Virocorp founder Issac Shuzen(Issa Shuzen), a Romanian Japanese immigrant to America, started his career as a virologist studying in the deep jungles of South America when he discovered something deep in the jungle. He found a substance that could significantly increase a person's physical abilities and health with the unfortunate side effect of monstrous mutations. With funding from the US government, he has made progress with his research after founding Virocorp and moving their subsidiary Geneforge Labs to the small midwestern town of Hollowfield. It is there under the cover of flying in immigrants to swing the state's vote in a future election that he experiments on people from all around the world. Over the last decade, Issac Shuzen hasn't been seen leaving his wife, Jade Shuzen, to run the day-to-day. Researchers are running amok without her husband's iron control, and their control over the situation has become tenuous. You've come to move in with your uncle after your parent's deaths. He's a security officer for Geneforge Labs. At 18, you are out of high school and looking for work.

That was a lot to take in. It was still Rosario Vampire, but with all the light-hearted school life sucked out of it for a grimdark apocalyptic terror.

Choose A Monster

Wait, he got a free monster. This was great.

"Can I pick anything?"

Select a category.

Yugioh

Pokemon

Digimon

MTG(Magic The Gathering)

MGP(Monster Girl Paradox)

FST(Fate Stay Night)

FF(Final Fantasy)

Red gave it some real thought and didn't use his dick to do most of the thinking. He went with his heart. Maybe it wasn't much better than using his dick, but it was real.

Select A Rookie Digimon

The list was extensive. Red knew he would jump into the unknown, and he needed a ringer, a tough-as-nails partner who could break the game. The fact that Lucimon was on the list told him this would be challenging. That test could determine if he would make the wrong decision early. Then again, what stopped someone like Lucimon from outright killing him? But having a demon lord able to overturn the table from the beginning was too good to turn down.

Then again, who cared if Lucimon could overturn the table if he killed Red before he entered the new world?

"Black Agumon," Red said.

Black Wargreymon was the best top-tier Digimon. If he could get it to fuse with a Black Metalgreymon, he would have an Omnimon Zwart, which was cool and extremely powerful. More importantly, he was sure he could somewhat control a Black Agumon.

A digiegg appeared and cracked open.

"Tell me, are you my boss."

"Nah, we're partners. Welcome to the team." Red said.

It hesitated for a moment, then nodded to him.

Entering the new world…

"Hey, let me use my skill on you." Black Agumon nodded his ascent. "Sweet," Red said and placed his new friend in storage.

The world brightened, and he was suddenly in a car driving past a massive wall. A sound shook the car, and a low-flying plane flew out. A large billboard grew closer as they drove down the highway toward several skyscrapers. Forests surrounded them for miles around, and helicopters buzzed through the air between massive towers. His uncle rolled down the window and filled the car with cigarette smoke anyway.

"What kind of job are you hoping to find?" Uncle Gin asked.

The man put his cigarette in his headband and turned to Red. 

"Whatever pays well. Keep your eyes on the road. What if a deer runs out before us."

"Well, you could come to work with me as Geneforge. There is a night guard position. It pays well. All you need to do is stay awake late at night. It has healthcare and double-matched 401k benefits, 35 an hour starting, and if you do well, you can move up. You might even meet one of our cute doctors and hit it off." Uncle Gin said and wiggled his eyebrows.

There wasn't a quest pop-up, but Red knew a hook when he saw it. He wanted a place to grind, but steady pay wasn't the wrong way to start things.

"Yeah, that sounds great," Red said.

"Good, you start Monday. That will give you the weekend to settle." Gin said.

They pulled into the driveway at 1203 Elm Street just after lunch. It was a 10-bedroom house with 3-baths painted white. As they got out, a man with dark skin moved the lawn. He was with a group of men hired by the HOA to keep the neighborhood lawns trimmed. A single heavy tree covered in long dead branches stood tall, towering over the house.

"Yeah, I live about 30 minutes biking distance from the main labs. We'll swing by tomorrow to fill out the paperwork. Here, you're an adult. Just remember to text me if you have any girls over." Gin said.

Red caught a set of keys before taking his bag inside. Instead of a TV, there was a projector pointed at a white wall. The room was much cleaner than he expected with leather couches that looked warn but very comfortable. The kitchen is connected to the living room with a long L-shaped bar and a restaurant-grade fridge.

Uncle Gin caught him staring. "Yeah, I like to eat plenty of protein. I hope you like steak. That's what we're having tonight."

Gin smirked, pulled his cigarette out of his headband, and killed it in the sink. An air purifier turned on, sucking the smell out of the house.

Red wasn't precisely Gin's nephew. He inherited his body's memories, but it felt like watching a movie about someone's life rather than living it.

"Oh, before I forget, you can go anywhere but the basement. I know you're only just moving in, but this is the rule you can't break no matter what while you live under my roof." Gin said.

"I won't go into the basement.

New Quest

What's In The Basement?

Find out

Reward: 10 Gotcha coins

Gotch From Digimon, SOA, and Devil May Cry in the form of skulls.

Red saw the list, and it was vast and extensive. He wanted it, but he needed it like a man needs water in the desert or air underwater. The question was how he was going to do it without his Uncle finding out. He didn't miss the green headband. Most likely, his uncle was either a werewolf or would become one. So, he needed to get a look without leaving his scent inside or covering the inside with bleach to hide it.