Her name is Crystal. Just Crystal. And zombie killing is her game. Before the Apocalypse her game was actually designing games from the ground up. Her most popular? You guessed it, Zombie Massacre . Who says you can’t apply games to real life? But even she can’t say she wasn’t surprised or scared when she found a Zombie in her closet, oh boy she was terrified.

Since the day we almost killed each other on the rooftop, Rika and I clicked somehow. When Rika asked me a few days to later to hang out together afterschool, it did not feel like inviting to a 'date' at all. For some inexplicable reason, it felt like just a reach-out from a fellow survivor of some catastrophe, like another passenger from the same ship I was in that sank and killed all the others.
The first place we hit was an arcade in a mall. Rika turned up casually dressed in oversized t-shirts bearing some graffiti looking logo and baggy jeans, with dark navy-blue hooded jacket and white trainers. I was a bit taken back at first as she looked so different from her image in school, but she looked charming in its own way with this look too, especially as she just gave a slight show of her palm and greeted me with "Yo" when we first met.

We walked into the arcade more or less in silence and once I got in I asked her if she likes playing games.

"Well it kills time"
"Ok… but you don't really enjoy it?"
"Let's say it's a necessity. Time has to be killed, especially when you have so much of it"
"er..?"
"Nevermind. Let's go play something"
"Right. What kind of games do you want to play?"
"Killing games"
That made me chuckle for some reason. I came to realize that she has this dull sense of humour with such deadpan comments.
"I guess we could shoot some zombies?"
"Woo yeah. I like shooting things that just never die. Or they die but come back. Again and again"

Then we started to playing this Zombie shooter in co-op mode, and damn she was good. She was pretty much shooting everything before I could even aim, and I felt like I was only shooting things that were designed to be physically impossible to be handled by a single player. I did die a few times, and each time Rika asked me to put more coins in so I can continue with her, as she has not died even once. In the end, after furious trigger pulls and loads of coins, we cleared the game, and I was happy when Rika gave me a rare smile as we high-fived each other.

"So what do you want to do now?" I thought we have spent enough time in this arcade, enough to completely clear a game
"Let's watch some movies"
"Yeah let's see what they are showing today"
Then we took the escalator to the upstairs where there was a small cinema. Rika said she will go to the restroom for a bit and I can check the show times. When she came back she asked,
"So what have they got?"
"Well there's this rom-com that's really popular now – I heard it's pretty damn funny. And there's this action movie with lots of car racing – I like this one personally, and a sci-fi with some alien invasion – I think this one looks a bit meh, and a crime story about a serial killer"
"Cool. Let's watch the serial killer movie"
"What are you, an emo goth?!"
"Pfft, don't give me such a label. It's just to kill time"
"What's up with you and all this 'killing'"
"It's just a running joke I have"
"With whom?"
She paused for a very short but noticeable moment, and then replied
"Yeah.. with a friend. A longtime friend"
"Your friend must be weird"
"Yes he is"
"A boy?", it would be a lie if I said I didn't feel a tiny bit of sudden unjustifiable jealousy
"None of your business"

With that the conversation was over. I bought two tickets and a massive box of popcorns (on Rika's demand) and we entered the hall.

After two hours of intense gore, the movie was over. Although it was pretty disgusting at parts, I have to say it was pretty good and suspenseful throughout.

"So did you like the movie?", I asked her.
"Yeah it was alright"
"It was pretty intense eh?"
"Well a bit unrealistic though"
"You think so? Which part? You mean like how the detective just happened to figure out who the killer is by chance?"
"No. It's just that…", then Rika hesitated a bit
"Go on"
"You know when you slit the back of a neck like in that second murder, it does not bleed that way in real life", she kinda murmured this and looked away, as if.. she was embarrassed?
"You know some weird things. I don't even know whether that's true or just some 'joke'"
"Nevermind. Maybe we do something else now"
"Right. What do you want to do?"
"You have been keep asking me what I want to do. Why don't you think of something yourself?"
I gave it a thought.
"Let's go to a café. We've been out for the whole day today but have not really sat down"
"We just sat in the movies for two hours"
"er, I mean sit around and just talk, chill, you know"
"Is that fun?"
"Yes it kills time"
She gave a short unexpected chuckle before quickly composing herself
"Ok you pick a place then"

Rika is a girl that can't die, and her immortal boy Tobi is on killing spree. How will they rise above the centuries of love and hatred, or will they reach a conclusion that is worse than death?

In this world, most sandbox games are done by overseas developers. Take Earth Online for example, allowing players to work, buy cards and houses, and experience different careers in game. This was one of the games that provided players with a high degree of freedom.
However, it wasn't truly a sandbox game.
Sandbox games had two main features, rich content, and allowing players to create freely. Although Earth Online was a content rich game, the game still operated under the restrictions of the designer as they weren't allowed to make much if at all.
It should be emphasised that the ability to create is a core factor in sandbox games, meaning the players could create whatever they want through resources provided by the game.
Games that didn't fulfil this aspect couldn't be considered a true sandbox game.
Of course, there were a few products experimenting with this aspect done by overseas developers, such as allowing players to choose whichever characters they want to play, or what whichever car or house they wanted. But these were all part of the original game and were added to give the players a choice and wasn't a core aspect of the game.
Therefore, Chen Mo wanted to use Don't Starve to test the reactions of players to a game like this. It if turned out to be successful, the way to his first VR game would be decided.
Of course, another key factor was that Don't Starve was relatively easier to make compared to other sandbox games.
In Chen Mo's previous world, the first version of Don't Starve was completed by three developers in eight hours. Obviously this was a primitive demo version.
The complete version took over a year, but most of this time was spent on testing and figuring things out as well as finding the identity of the game.
For example, Don't Starve's team had gone through intense discussions, some thought that because it was a survival game, allowing the players to become stronger and stronger as they progressed through the game while others thought that because it was a survival game, the players should lose everything upon death.
After the intense discussion, they decided on the latter.
This game also had a simple yet unique art style. Players and monsters only had four directions with simple animations.
The only thing that Chen Mo found troublesome was the difficulty settings of the game. However, with the help of Memory Playback Potions and the collective brain of his staff, it wasn't hard to make a game similar to the level of the original after ensuring that they were heading in the correct direction.
Chen Mo planned to make three modes: Survival, Adventure and Co-op. The first two shouldn't need any introductions, whereas co-op would allow players to play and experience the game together.
To be frank, co-op also happened to be the most popular mode.
The core of the game was clear, allowing players to explore and gather resources, craft various items, and try their hardest to survive as long as possible.
The basics of the game included but are not limited to: Terrain generation, attributes and usage of different items, differences in attributes for different characters, monster respawn rates, as well seasons and environment.
The map was also incredibly rich in content as there were various different biomes including plains, swamp, meadows, mines, forest, caves... different biomes had different features as well as different mobs.
At the start of the game, the system will generate maps according to a seed. The maps could greatly differ from one run to the next to ensure that the player experiences something different every time.
Moreover, the game also had seasons as a core part of the game.
During spring, rain becomes more common and plants grow faster.
In summer, plants may spontaneously combust and the players would heat up quickly, causing them to overheat.
And during winter, plants grow slower and the players may freeze.
Seasons as well as various other factors combine to pose a great threat to the players as they are forced to prepare for the next season to prevent great losses.
After the foundations of the world are laid down, they'd continuously add to the world to make it a rich, large, and complex world.
Chen Mo planned to include nine playable characters in the first version, including Wilson, Willow, Wendy, Wolfgang, WX-78, Wes, Wickerbottom, Woody, and Maxwell.
Certain requirements had to be met before some of these characters could be unlocked. They also have different abilities. For example, Willow the firestarter is unlocked after surviving nine days, with the ability to start fires as she wished while being immune to fire damage.
The monsters in this game could be split into four main categories: humanoids, animals, weird beings, and artificial intelligence, each with their own quirks.
Many humanoids possess a certain intelligence and could be bribed compared to animal based monsters. Different monsters drop different items when killed, some could be turned into equipment, others can be turned into food.
Don't Starve also had a rich equipment system, including things that are used day to day (light sources or used for gathering), consumables (foods or ingredients), and weaponry (weapons, armour, traps).
Moreover, some items can be further processed. Food that goes bad quickly can be placed on drying racks, campfires, or crockpots to be processed further to extend their lifespan.
Of course, as a sandbox game, a huge part of the enjoyment comes from player developed mods and allowing it to become part of the game.
These mods are usually present in game to allow players to pick and choose, and obviously would have different effects. Mods can provide statistics, reduce the difficulty of the game, while other mods add more content.
With the inclusion of mods, the player can change the difficulty of the game as they wish while increasing the amount of playable content. For example, new players could decrease the difficulty of the game with a mod to help them live longer.
---
The development of Diablo: Reaper of Souls and Don't Starve were moving along swimmingly.
At the same time Diablo continued to gain popularity.
After selling a shocking 1.87 million copies in the first month, it maintained its momentum into the second month, selling 1.68 million copies, meaning Diablo raked in nearly four hundred and fifty million RMB in total.
Most of the new players still found the game fun. They are still on the path to challenging Diablo, going through on quest at a time in Nephalem as they can't stop themselves from hacking and slashing mobs.
However, other voices start to show up.


Chen Mo liked calling himself a video game designer, despite being a mere video game producer.
After dying one day from work-related stress, he transmigrated into a parallel world as himself, right after he graduated. He was now in the body of his younger self, who also aspired to be a video game designer. 
Will he be able to fulfill his dream after being reborn in this oddly different new world, and become the best video game designer in that world?
Follow Chen Mo on his romp through video game classics as he brings the great games of the past to a whole new world in pursuit of his dreams!
Note: This Novel has been continued as a passion project by its translator. The continuation of this novel will not affect the result of Trial Reading or Voting Pool. 

---
  One week ago, in a supermarket close to the building where twenty plus survivors will stay later this day, there is a teenager on the cashier desk and he is doing what cashiers do, scan the products, asks for money at the customer, and give the change to customers who have paid to much. The cashier's name is Mike, and this guy, is hating his job, not only because his co-workers are making fun of him, but it is the fact the money he got for an hour, it a disgrace even for slaves who are working in Brazil.
  One customer who wears a surgical mask on his face walks into the store, while Mike is looking quite amused at that guy but he is holding is laughing because he does not want to have his salary cut, not again, this month he already got cut for two times because of his annoying co-workers who have blamed him for lighting a cigarette in a storage room. "Filthy Gen Z spoiled brat," says Mike to himself when he remembers those times, but then he realizes he is also a Gen Z, but not a spoiled brat.
  The customer with surgical masks takes from a shelf a kitchen knife, and also a large box with cookies and a Coca- Cola bottle, and Mike does not even care why to do this guy needs and kitchen knife because a customer is a customer, and also, today was the day he finally decides to quit this dammed job. The customer with surgical masks approaches the cashier desk and those things he has taught there, to let Mike scan it by using the scanner every grocery store or supermarket has. After he has finished scanning, the customer paid Mike and he runs from the store, without even taking the rest, which made Mike quite upset because his co-workers will maybe do a thing and tell their boss that he is stealing the money from the cash register.
  Mike put the money back into the cash register, and then he heard a sound "BANG" outside like something has thrown a grenade or something have exploded. Mike leaves the cashier spot for a few seconds to look outside what is happening, And at that time, two co-workers of Mike have decided to go into the cash register, take all the money from there, and putting into the Mike backpack they have stolen a while ago. But when they approach the cash register, those two heard screaming from Boss' office and they have decided to run there to see what was happening. But when they arrive there, they were greeted by their boss who is now a zombie, and another zombie, the one who was biting his neck. These got attacked by those zombies who not much later, have started to eat their organs like crows eating a wild animal body.
  Mike is still outside, and he saw there a car accident between a truck and a bus. The truck was not carrying gas, just some pallets with supplies for a market, and on the bus, eight civilians were just dead, but there was somebody who has left somehow from the bus and he is walking around. The people who were there and looking at the accident, have decided to go and try to help the man, and Mike was coming there too, soo how is that survivor holding.
  When a man approached that "survivor of the crash", the survivor already jumped on him and start biting his face. The image was horrifying for those people, and also for Mike, who has instantly thrown up While that zombie was biting the man, a few men wanted to take that thing from there, but one of them got attacked by that thing again, but this time, he bites the neck of someone. He bites so hard, that this man has instantly fallen and laid on the ground. Other citizens were trying to help him, but when he opens his eyes, he got reanimated as a zombie and start biting another person, this time a black female who will become later a zombie. Mike remained far from those people and he realizes something. All of the zombie-apocalypse video games and movies are not a wasted time like his father said one day, now they are have reached him the essentials.
  Mike runs into the store to alert his co-workers, but it was already too late, he saw his own co-worker, the one who intentionally light a cigarette into the storage room to then blame Mike for doing it, laying on the floor and trying to scream for help, while a zombie was eating his whole ass. Mike has weirdly smiled at that bastard and he says to him in a weird tone.
  "You get what you deserve."
  Then, Mike runs into a shelf and takes from there as fast as he can do, a knife, also a pan and he saw there something between the refrigerators which contains mineral water and juices, a crowbar. Mike takes the crowbar and he runs to that zombie who was eating his co-worker's ass. He takes a swing and with one hit, he destroyed the head of that zombie who then is laying, with his destroyed face, on his co-worker's ass, between the checks.
  "Thank you!" yelled the co-worker to Mike who is then is doing another swing with the crowbar. "Wait..." says the co-worker who was already too late.
  Mike has done the last swing with his crowbar, who has broken his co-worker's head. And after he has done that, he takes his backpack who was already on the floor, he runs to another shelf and he takes from there every supply he can get, a few chocolate bars, water bottles from the refrigerator, a few great sources of food in cans, and he also takes from another shelf three pieces of bread. And before he was about to leave the place, he takes off his shirt which represents the logo of this supermarket, and yelled.
  "I QUIT!"
  Then, Mike runs into a hideout while he is carrying a whole backpack with supplies, and the hideout he is running to is a huge block where a few people where running there, the huge block where he will stay for a while and where he will meet the other two survivors which will help him go to the port to steal a boat to help them escape this country.
---
  In the present day, on the block which contains three floors with cars, they are searching for a car who can help them dive into this situation, a jeep to be specific. They could take any other car, but a jeep offers to them a great chance to survive these big waves of zombies.
  These three survivors are already on the second floor, and they have found a jeep parking somewhere here. Mike arrives first at that jeep and he noticed it is looked, so, Ronald takes off Mike and he tells both of them to get away. The two take a few steps back, while Ronald is breaking the glass of the jeep by using his hammer from the backpack he got after he changed with someone's tools on the second day of this infection or apocalypse. He successfully broke the jeep window, he gets first on the jeep and he tries to turn on the car like thieves from GTA Games are doing, trying to turn it on by working on some warriors. Then Gerald, comes to the jeep and he is sitting on the passage seat, he then unlocks the doors on the back of this jeep, and there enters Mike.
  When Mike has entered the back of the jeep, he found there two shotguns, and also three boxes of shells that belongs to the shotguns.
  "Wicked," says Mike.
  "What?" he asks Ronald taking a look at Mike, and then he found there two shotguns. "Thank God for Americans!"
  After a few minutes, the jeep starts and Ronald is driving this car from this parking lot into the streets of Holland.

It is the year 20XX and something bad happened to Earth and humanity, but much worse to humanity to be precise. The thing it has happened, it is known as a zombie apocalypse by the modern generation. 
It presents the stories of a few groups of survivors across the world who are either going to stay among undeads, zombies, climbers, swimmers, vomitrons, flamers and tons of other types of zombies, or try their luck to run on inhibited islands with or without military help and live safely until everything comes down. Eventually.

Scheduled Chapters: 1 - 3 per. Weekend

"Can I ask where I am?" Gabriel asked in a very reserved temper. No anger or fear, just curious about what happened to him because all he remembered was the car accident that happened to him.


"Exchanging your life to a stranger? How admiring that even got me enthralled by your heroic deed." The voice answered as if she was happy.


"Can I please know what happened to me?" Once again, he asked because the unknown entity did not answer his first question.


"Oh? Sorry about that. Did you hear the `champion` word I named you lately?" Trying to remember about it, Gabriel was indeed called a `champion` by the mysterious feminine voice.


"So, what will that word be a part of me here?"


"With-in 540,000,000 people died in the same year as you. You were the only person that accumulated so much help to the world that will end soon enough."


To what the voice said, this made Gabriel shocked and scared, what immediately entered in his mind is his family and his girls, then the people that he helped and helped him as well.


"You don't have to worry about that. That is why I chose you because you accumulated the best Karma than the others. You can use it as an exchange for some abilities that will help you save the earth."


Because he can't still move, Gabriel tried to shook his mind inwardly and remove all the negative thoughts that will happen to the people that were close to him.


. "So? Is it the only way to save the world? Is it tough doing it?"


"It depends on your performance, also to put you at ease, don't worry about your girls."


That sentence made Gabriel curious. To what the voice said somehow made him put at ease for some reason, so he asked. "Why?"


"I let them dream about your mission in saving the world, but sadly, you can't see them until you accomplish one world mission. Also, your questions sill be answered once you start."


There are many things that Gabriel needs an answer, but the voice told him that all information would be transferred once he begins his missions.


`I don't have any choice. The responsibility is all in me. Sigh...` Gabriel thought and accepted it. `Let fate decide what will happen to me."


"I accept."


- - - -

Accepting the so-called mission, I closed my eyes to what the voice said so.


My first mission is to save a world that is similar to mine. Modern with the same year. The world will experience a zombie apocalypse, and all I have to do is find out who the cause of it and a cure.


Also, if I save survivors, it will convert into points for my next mission.


"How many years till my world will get destroyed."


"Five years, but again don't worry. Even if you spend a hundred years in your missions, it will only take a year in your world."


I feel like I'm being used, but I have no choice, also about the zombie apocalypse. I have so much experience in fps games. Not to brag about it, but I was called a human aim-bot in CS-go, Valorant, and other FPS games that I am lazy to mention it.


"So about the points that I accumulated. Are there bounds about it once I started to buy the so-called Abilities?"


"As the world, you will enter is a tier-1. Yes, there will be a limit, but because of the vast Karma points you have, you don't have to fret about it."


Okay, so I must carefully choose, huh. In front of me is a transparent screen with a list of Tier-1 abilities, and what I quickly want first are the passives.


[Peak Human x20]
[Unlimted Stamina]
[The Gamers Adaptability]


I immediately chose those three, and they are also the most expensive in the Karma Shop. Peak human will be a passive ability that will make my body twenty times the max potential of a human.


Unlimited Stamina is already very obvious, while the Gamers Adaptability is a passive ability that will convert my gaming experience into real life. I was fighting like MOBA games or MMORPG games that I played until FPS games that I was very good at playing it.


I also have so much experience playing zombie games. Left 4 Dead 1-2 and Resident's evil 1-6. Maybe this first world might not be very difficult. I hope so...


"How about your active abilities?"


Because it's a zombie world, I quickly chose the active abilities that made me surprise because most of them came from MOBA games. I have so much Karma points, so I decided all support skills from curing, healing and buffing teammates if so. Though the voice said it would not cure the dead already, I can heal a person if he or she is bitten as long as it's not yet past half an hour.

(AN: I will list all the support skills he purchased. Also, I decided to choose only support skills because why not? A reminder that this is a harem.This is Also an OP-MC and no NTR okay? Maybe Netori.)

Synopsis to be updated as the story progresses.

Also, I write this for fun. Not to compete.

<Name: Deminas
Job: Necromancer Level: 1
Active Skill(s): Reanimate Level: 1
Passive Skill(s): Undead Commander Level: 1
OP Points: 10>

The information I see in my head looks like a game character stat sheet. Why is my name the name of my avatar in games? Wait that isn't important right now. I push all the questions I have to the back of my mind, and look at my stats. I have one skill and based off all the games I've ever played, it should do one thing. 

I turn around and look at the man's corpse again. Everything seems to be moving again, I can hear the voice of the woman and 2 men again. I clench my fists tight and prepare myself for the worst. Concentrating on the body I then say the words that have filled up my head.

"Arise and serve me".

Oddly, even though I am thinking in English as I say those words, I hear something much different coming from my mouth. As I am wondering about that, I see a scene which shoves those thoughts to the back of my mind. The corpse on the ground shakes and I see it rise from the ground to a standing position.

Even though I knew what would happen, it did not prepare me for it. The body was covered with wounds, but instead of red blood it was oozing a black liquid from those injuries. Dark lifeless eyes stared at me, as if waiting for my command. 

It looked terrifying, but for some reason I could tell it would not hurt me and would obey me completely. It was... a very comforting feeling. Yes, very comforting knowing it would never betray or hurt me. I looked at it, and tried to issue a command.

"Go and a-attack those 2 men".

It seems my social skills are so low that I can't even talk to a dead person smoothly. 

As I finished saying the words the... I guess it is a zombie? The zombie immediately ran forward with surprising speed at the 2 men. I had expected it to be slow, but it is incredibly fast. It seemed to be on the level of an Olympic sprinter. I looked on as it immediately closed the distance, and then I heard more screaming...

Just as a young man prepares to take his own life to escape from his miserable existence, he happens to look at his e-mail one last time. He glances at it and sees that it says "Do you want to leave this world behind and start fresh?" With nothing to lose he clicks "Accept" in the e-mail before killing himself... so begins his grand adventure.

"And that's pretty much it." Dad grinned. "So, are you finally ready to go to the Soul King's Palace to get your Zhan Po Dao re-forged and begin your training anew?"
"…huh? What are you talking about?"
I gaped at Dad, not sure I heard him correctly.
"Did you forget?" Dad knocked on my head. "That blacksmith dude threw you down here from the King's Palace because he wanted you to know your roots. Otherwise you'll never be able to master your Zhan Po Dao."
"WRONG STORY! This isn't even a manga!"
I threw my hands up in exasperation, trying not to blow up and failing miserably. I didn't know whether I was angrier at myself for actually catching the reference. Granted, that was one of my favorite manga, what with all the awesome Shinigami and their Zanpakuto, but we would get into copyright trouble if I started mastering Bankai right here and now.
Forcing myself to calm down, I glanced at where Angelica had been, but she had disappeared when Dad began his tale. Probably because she didn't want to listen to her own life story being told. I knew how that felt. It was really awkward listening to someone tell other people a story about you. And in my experience, it tended to be people making fun of me and telling everyone how much of an idiot or a retard I was, which made it more humiliating.
"Then why were you asking about Angelica? I thought you wanted to know about your mother and your Quincy origins."
"WRONG! Since when am I a Quincy?!"
"But your most powerful spells are the ranged ones, right? And you use a bow and arrow pretty often."
"I'm just ripping off Archer-class Servants from another anime! The one with the Holy Grail War! Not Shinigami!"
I was clutching my head, regretting ever asking Dad about Angelica and spirit summoning. Dad stared at me strangely, his face scrunched up for a moment, and then he scratched his head before sighing.
"Sorry. It has been forty-five chapters and probably almost a whole month of reading, even including the double mass releases. I know there are readers screaming in the comments about the whole flashback arc being fillers and extremely boring, and that they want you to get back to the 'real' story, never mind that this flashback arc is a vital part of the real story. Why do they think they know what's the real story better than the writer of the story himself? But that's not important. I forgot why you even asked me about this in the first place."
"Because of the sacrifice necessary to make a contract with a spirit in order to tether it to this world…the requirement of a host to bind the spirit to you. And for that to be possible, the host has to be someone close to you."
"Oh, right." Dad paused for a moment and gave me a strange stare. "How did you know about that? I don't recall ever telling you anything about that."
"No, you didn't. I found out on my own."
I briefly told him about my encounter with Selina and Hades. He listened for a moment, unsurprised because he had already heard of my hard-fought victory over the legendary Grim Reaper. While I recounted, I wondered inwardly if Selina and Hades were related to Serena and Cronus. It would be one hell of a coincidence if Selina and Hades were the children of Serena and Cronus. That would mean that the battle our parents fought had continued down to our generation. That said, Serena was clearly several years older than I was, so it wasn't accurate to categorize her as part of my generation.
It didn't matter. She was now dead.
"So they told you." Dad nodded thoughtfully, but he didn't seem shocked at the revelation. "I knew the Assassins Guild would continue using that spirit summoning technology to create more of those Spirit Assassins."
Having just heard the entire story, I could only nod.
"Damn them," Dad muttered. Then he sighed. "But then again, if those two are really the children of Cronus and Serena Wright, it's only natural that they would take up the mantle of their parents and delve into forbidden technology. Furthermore, if there's anyone who would be able to preserve the spirit summoning technology, it would be the Assassins."
"Are you hunting down the Assassins Guild?" I asked. "Do you intend to destroy them completely?"
"I don't know if it's even possible. Even after a couple of decades, I'm still unable to locate their elusive Grand Master and real base. They are a tough nut to crack." Dad sighed heavily. "I'll fight them and stop them whenever I see them, but I'm not optimistic enough to think I'll find their real headquarters and leader and end them decisively."
He leaned closer, his face turning grim.
"Furthermore, the Grand Master of Assassins is the deadliest man alive. I don't know whether I stand a chance against him."
"You'll do fine, Dad," I assured him. "You're invincible! Nobody can beat you!"
Dad gave me a really sad smile, and I suddenly had déjà vu for some reason. That look on his face – it was as if he was staring at his younger self.
"No, I'm not invincible."
"But you…"
"Remember the story I told you about my past?" Dad's smile was hollow. "I also thought that Michael Porter was invincible. That he would never die, no matter what. That he would overcome all obstacles and emerge a shining hero whose figure gave hope to everyone. That he would become the symbol for peace."
"Are we going to my Hero Academia now?" I asked sarcastically. Dad raised a hand.
"My point," he continued, as if he ever had a point to begin. Hah! "Is that nobody is invincible. Even Michael died. And I will die too…one day. I hope the day will never come, just like everyone else except my enemies, but in my line of work, it's very likely. And when that day arrives, I hope you will be mentally prepared."
He shrugged.
"I know we aren't related by blood, and there's still quite a wall between us. Honestly, despite my meta commentary back then, I never thought I would adopt a son. I…honestly have no idea how to be a father, and being a single parent at that."
"You did a good job," I assured him. Dad smiled at that, but he shook his head.
"Thanks. But I probably should have spent more time taking care of you instead of watching anime all the time. And…" he stared at me thoughtfully. "Maybe I should have spent money for the healing procedure to correct your eyesight permanently instead of just buying you glasses."
"That's fine. I'm used to wearing glasses. I feel weird not wearing glasses. Besides, it's a waste of money. It's not worth the cost."
While most healing spells and procedures, such as injuries sustained in the battlefield or illnesses, were covered by the national healthcare insurance plan, cosmetic surgeries such as eyesight correction, plastic surgery, slimming, and pigmentation were not because they were considered non-essential. Furthermore, in an ultra-capitalistic society such as the Global Federation, corporations wanted to continue making profits, and the industry that manufactured and sold glasses was a lucrative one. They were better served keeping the prices of eyesight correction up while maintaining cheap prices of glasses, otherwise they would go out of business.
Welcome to capitalism.
"But I can afford it and I chose not to…"
"Because you wanted to buy the latest DVD collection of Gun Damn, as well as the new model kits, didn't you?"
Dad looked sheepish and he shrugged. Yeah, I caught him red-handed.
"Anyway, I didn't know Uncle Glen was from the Porter clan." I returned to the subject at hand. I had met Uncle Glen a few times, but he never gave any sign that he was from one of the top ten great families. Granted, from what Dad had just told me, the Porter clan was pretty much decimated about twenty years ago and were struggling to recover ever since. But even so, I thought either one of them would at least mention it.
"Oh." Dad rubbed his head. "Yeah…we didn't mean to hide it from you. It's just that Glen gets annoying sometimes, so…"
"Right."
It was at that moment, the doorbell rang. Dad raised an eyebrow, but I was already up and going forward to answer the door.
"Hey, Richie! It's been a while!"
"Uncle Glen?"
"What a coincidence." Dad also appeared behind me as I gaped at the visitor after opening the door. "We were just talking about you."
"…huh?" Glen Porter stared at the both of us for a few moments, and then he scowled. "I hope it's not something bad."
"No, no. Not at all. It seems we've completely forgotten to mention that you're from the Porter clan."
"Oh, that!" Glen was guffawing as he followed us into the house. At a nod from Dad, I headed to the kitchen to grab a drink for my father's best friend. "I completely forgot that I was supposed to be from the Porter clan too!"
"Uh huh." Dad led Glen to the couch, and both grown men took a seat. For a moment, as I brought the drink to Glen, I thought the both of them would resume their usual get-together and play games. Dad had a console and a couple of controllers, and they enjoyed playing co-op shooter games. I sometimes played with Dad, but not too often because I was terrible and always got wrecked by online opponents. "What's up today?"
"Right. I'm here to inform you about the Spiritual Road training camp. You know, the training camp that takes place for high school students every year? The Spiritual Road is open again, and I believe the academies will be sending their representatives to take part, as preparation for the international tournament. As you know, representatives from all the schools will be present, so it also counts as an opportunity to collect information on each other, assess each other's strengths and weaknesses, and be a mock preliminary for the actual tournament itself."
"Oh, right." Dad looked at Glen blankly, and I could tell that he had no idea what Glen was talking about. "I see."
"Your adopted son has been making quite a few waves recently, and I thought that he might end up being one of the representatives," Glen continued with a wink. Dad grinned proudly.
"Of course! I was the one who trained him."
"I didn't expect him to be a summoner, though. I thought he would be a fire mage like you."
"Oh, Richie came up with his own summoning magic." Dad waved, as if trying to push the credit toward me. "I merely taught him the basics, but he really grew into his own and became his own person. He's not going to be a clone of me, if that was what you thought."
"No, indeed." Glen was musing thoughtfully. "But yeah, that's pretty much it."
"You came all the way just to tell me that?" Dad looked a little astonished. "You could just have called."
"Nah, I also came to hang out." Glen grinned. "It's been a while since we've answered the Call of Duty."
I wasn't a big fan of that game, so I made preparations to hide in my room before they began owning newbie players online. Before I could leave, however, Glen turned to me.
"How about it, Richie? If you go to the Spiritual Road, you should meet…"
"No," Dad interrupted. Glen sulked at that, but Dad continued. "Richie already has a girlfriend, so don't even think about it."
"Really?"
Not really. Alicia was dead. I didn't want to say I had moved on, but that was life. I couldn't use her as an excuse to continue like this forever. As callous as it was, I was still alive and I had to move on with my own life without dwelling on her memory forever. Remember the dead, but do not allow them to shackle you.
However, from Dad's hasty interruption, I sort of understood what was going on, and therefore I nodded.
"Yeah."
"I see." Glen looked a little disappointed. I couldn't care less. It was not my job to make him happy. Quite the contrary, actually.
Leaving the two grown men to play their game, I disappeared into my room and began reading a bunch of translated web comics that included some ability user with a zombie girlfriend and growing zombie harem, a prince who released that witch, and cultivators in the 41st Millennium. Not to mention a certain Mary Sue Garrulous King who won his every match in the OP system.


Please do NOT read this story. It's awful, every single reader agrees that it's shit. Nobody likes it, and it has earned the title "WORST ever story on Webnovel." So do me a favor and avoid this story at all costs. If you read it, I guarantee you will swear, curse, insult and threaten me. I'm sick of receiving insults, and I have already dropped the story. So please, don't bother picking this up. Thank you.

A story about a summoner.

Richard Huang, by bravely sacrificing himself, is given a new chance at life. In a world filled with technology so advanced that it is indistinguishable from magic, and overrun by monsters from another dimension. Following the footsteps of his adopted father, he enrolls in Jing Tian Magic Academy to become a summoner.

Wait, what? Summoning is not viable? The current meta is all about fast, aggressive burn spells or lockdown and control strategies? Getting defeated by swift combat techniques before I can summon my giant monsters?

...sucks to be me, I guess.

Warning: contains a lot of parodies of other stories (most noticeably Battle Frenzy) and fourth-wall breaking. If you hate Deadpool, you'll probably hate this story too.

'Wait, if playing co-op games can net big money, doesn't that mean other types of games could as well?' Enlightened by that sudden thought, Yuning closed out of the ad and went back to the search bar.

Yuning really hoped what he was thinking was correct because he really needed it to be. Although he wasn't a pro gamer, earning money via playing an MMO was something he could do.

Because out of everything that had changed in the world since his time, he was quite sure that some things never would. And one thing would be the many ways to make money in games.

Back in his day, people used to sometimes buy materials from other players, such as metals, produce, and things using real-world currency. So if they did it back then, they must still do it now.

After spamming the search engine with different keywords, Yuning discovered something interesting. It seems that nowadays, other than joining a professional team, the number one way to make a living by playing games is becoming a ranker. 

A ranker is any player or guild who made it into a game's top 100 for one of many reasons. Such as having the highest level, enormous wealth, PVP wins damage output, or even dungeon time completion. 

But it's a hard road because only the players or guilds in the top 20 will receive the prestige that came with being at the uppermost position. Meaning other players would look up to them, causing them to get sponsored. 

Once sponsored, the game developers will recognize the players as someone they can use to promote their game, so they will showcase them on the game's website.

This action will lead to more endorsements, making them even more popular with the masses until they become known as a gaming legend. 

Knowing that there was no point in him even dreaming of being a ranker; instead, Yuning continued his search to see if being a material gatherer was still a thing in this day and age.

After finding an auction site catering to the buying and selling of game items and looking through its forums, Yuning learned that his assumption was correct but on a larger scale than he imagined.

He discovered that gatherers were a very much needed commodity in most games because many players had to go to work, so they didn't have the time to gather the materials they needed.

After doing some more digging, he found out that other games had organizations like the co-op games that are so popular. But instead of going to competitions, they made they're living off of collecting materials instead of fighting. 

Yuning was ecstatic; he finally had a sliver of light in the darkness. He finally found a way to make money, and it didn't require him to get a certificate.  

'But first, I need to find a game that I wouldn't mind grinding materials in.' Yuning thought while going back to the search page.

After typing in the keywords 'the most popular fantasy MMOs,' in the search engine Yuining quickly found a link called: The top 20 most played fantasy games in 2525.

Opening the link, he scrolled down past the usual introductory paragraph until he reached the first game on the list. It was called Universe Of War.

From the summary he read, Universe of War was a game where players traveled in spaceships to other planets and fought against a creature called the Zerg. They are a fictional bug race whose primary mission is to conquer every planet in the galaxy.

The players of Universe of War needed to pick a planet to colonize and fight back the bugs while trying to cultivate land and resources.

Yuning was genuinely interested in the game after reading the summary, so opening up a new tab, he began to search for some gameplay.

After finding a link to a video on a live streaming website called MMOGOPLAY, Yuning clicked it and played the video.

The first thing he saw was a man in army fatigues standing in a pill-shaped pod with a large group of men.  

"What's up, guys! Welcome back to another one of my live streams. This one should have better quality than the last one since I upgraded to the advanced VR headgear Risque Mouse 2.0."

Pausing the video for a moment, Yuning was dumbfounded by what he heard. He had a feeling that the gaming equipment of this time would be advanced, but he never imagined they would have actual VR technology.  

Although this shouldn't have been as surprising as it was to him, since this technology was in its infant stage back when he was in his original body. It was just when he saw for himself how far it came along made him feel amazed. 

Yuning was overcome with giddiness. Being able to experience a game first hand and not just through a monitor was always a fantasy of his.

'And now I might have the chance,' mused Yuning, his eyes filled with wonder as he restarted the video.

"Today's stream is special! The Zerg are trying to seize control of the Tari planet in the E.Y129 solar system. I'm heading there now with my squadron to wipe them out, and you lucky people will see my prowess first hand."   

After a couple of minutes of the man describing the mission his squadron had to do, the pod finally landed with a quiet thud.

"Guys, we have finally arrived! Now watch in amazement as my squad, and I kick these bugs butts all the way back to their home planet."

Yuning watched as the man and his squadron quickly exited the spaceship and sprinted across hilly terrain to arrive at a massive battle that was already in progress. He had to hand it to the man; he didn't even falter when seeing the 8-foot bugs. 

Instead, the man just pulled out a sword and ran straight towards the nearest Zerg. The man had some really excellent skills. Yuning could only watch in trepidation and awe as the man somersaulted onto the back of the giant bug and stabbed his sword into its head.  

Yuning continued to watch as the man pulled the sword back out, only to shiver slightly when the man was sprayed with a green, slimy substance that he assumed to be the creature's blood. That's when he knew that this game definitely wasn't for him and hurriedly clicked off the video.

'Let's see if the number 2 game is more my speed.' Yuning decided while switching to the tab that had the game list on it. 

When he scrolled down to the second most popular game, he saw that the pictures used for it were to his liking. The game was called Falin Saga, a fairytale based game with over 800 million players. 

After reading the description, Yuning knew it would be something he would enjoy playing. 

Sure enough, after watching some gameplay, he was confident that he would enjoy playing this game. However, he was still hesitant to choose this game to play. 

Because when he was viewing the gameplay, he saw that the players had to speak when performing an attack. This discouraged him since he wasn't sure how the game would work with his disability.

Putting Falin Online into the maybe pile, Yuning decided to read through the rest of the list and pick out a few more games before checking to see if his disability would be a hindrance to him.  

Yuning had already found two other games that suited his taste when he saw a name that made him do a double-take. It was the name of the 10th most popular game which was called Nethersky. 

'Nethersky?! How odd, I used to play a game with that same name back in my time.' Intrigued by the game with the same name as the one he played before, he clicked the link that would take him to its website and read what the game was about. 'Shit, this is the same game I played. How could that be?'

'Wait, if playing co-op games can net big money, doesn't that mean other types of games could as well?' Enlightened by that sudden thought, Yuning exited the ad and went back to the search bar.

Yuning really hoped what he was thinking was correct because he really needed it to be. Although he wasn't a pro gamer, earning money via playing an MMO was something he could do.

Because out of everything that had changed in the world since his time, he was quite sure that some things never would. And one thing would be the many ways to make money in games.

Back in his day, people used to sometimes buy materials from other players, such as metals, produce, and things using real-world currency. So if they did it back then, they must still do it now.

After spamming the search engine with different keywords, Yuning discovered something interesting. It seems that nowadays, other than joining a professional team, the number one way to make a living by playing games is becoming a ranker. 

A ranker is any player or guild who made it into a game's top 100 for one of many reasons. Such as having the highest level, enormous wealth, PVP wins damage output or even dungeon time completion. 

But it's a hard road because only the players or guilds in the top 20 will receive the prestige that came with being at the uppermost position. Meaning other players would look up to them, causing them to get sponsored. 

Once sponsored, the game developers will recognize the players as someone they can use to promote their game, so they will showcase them on the game's website.

This action will lead to more endorsements, making them even more popular with the masses until they become known as gaming legends. 

Knowing that there was no point in him even dreaming of being a ranker; instead, Yuning continued his search to see if being a material gatherer was still a thing in this day and age.

After finding an auction site catering to the buying and selling of game items and looking through its forums, Yuning learned that his assumption was correct but on a larger scale than he imagined.

He discovered that gatherers were a very much needed commodity in most games because many players had to go to work, so they didn't have the time to gather the materials they needed.

After doing some more digging, he found out that other games had organizations like the co-op games that are so popular. But instead of going to competitions, they made they're living off of collecting materials instead of fighting. 

Yuning was ecstatic; he had finally seen a sliver of light in the darkness. He finally found a way to make money, and it didn't require him to get a certificate.  

'But first, I need to find a game that I wouldn't mind grinding materials in.' Yuning thought while going back to the search page.

After typing in the keywords 'the most popular fantasy MMOs,' in the search engine Yuining quickly found a link called: The top 20 most played fantasy games in 2525.

Opening the link, he scrolled down past the usual introductory paragraph until he reached the first game on the list. It was called Universe Of War.

From the summary he read, Universe of War was a game where players traveled in spaceships to other planets and fought against a creature called the Zerg. They are a fictional bug race whose primary mission is to conquer every planet in the galaxy.

The players of Universe of War needed to pick a planet to colonize and fight back the bugs while trying to cultivate land and resources.

Yuning was genuinely interested in the game after reading the summary, so opening up a new tab, he began to search for some gameplay.

After finding a link to a video on a live streaming website called MMOGOPLAY, Yuning clicked it and played the video.

The first thing he saw was a man in army fatigues standing in a pill-shaped pod with a large group of men.  

"What's up, guys! Welcome back to another one of my live streams. This one should have better quality than the last one since I upgraded to the advanced VR headgear Risque Mouse 2.0."

Pausing the video for a moment, Yuning was dumbfounded by what he heard. He had a feeling that the gaming equipment of this time would be advanced, but he never imagined they would have actual VR technology.  

Although this shouldn't have been as surprising as it was to him, since this technology was in its infant stage back when he was in his original body. It was just when he saw for himself how far it came along that made him feel amazed. 

Yuning was overcome with giddiness. Being able to experience a game first hand and not just through a monitor was always a fantasy of his.

'And now I might have the chance,' mused Yuning, his eyes filled with wonder as he restarted the video.

"Today's stream is special! The Zerg are trying to seize control of the Tari planet in the E.Y129 solar system. I'm heading there now with my squadron to wipe them out, and you lucky people will see my prowess first hand."   

After a couple of minutes of the man describing the mission his squadron had to do, the pod finally landed with a quiet thud.

"Guys, we have finally arrived! Now watch in amazement as my squad, and I kick these bugs butts all the way back to their home planet."

Yuning watched as the man and his squadron quickly exited the spaceship and sprinted across hilly terrain to arrive at a massive battle that was already in progress. He had to hand it to the man; he didn't even falter when seeing the 8-foot bugs. 

Instead, the man just pulled out a sword and ran straight towards the nearest Zerg. The man had some really excellent skills. Yuning could only watch in trepidation and awe as the man somersaulted onto the back of the giant bug and stabbed his sword into its head.  

Yuning continued to watch as the man pulled the sword back out, only to shiver slightly when the man was sprayed with a green, slimy substance that he assumed to be the creature's blood. That's when he knew that this game definitely wasn't for him and hurriedly clicked off the video.

'Let's see if the number 2 game is more my speed.' Yuning decided while switching to the tab that had the game list on it. 

When he scrolled down to the second most popular game, he saw that the pictures used for it were to his liking. The game was called Falin Saga, a fairytale-based game with over 800 million players. 

After reading the description, Yuning knew it would be something he would enjoy playing. 

Sure enough, after watching some gameplay, he was confident that he would enjoy playing this game. However, he was still hesitant to choose this game to play. 

Because when he was viewing the gameplay, he saw that the players had to speak when performing an attack. This discouraged him since he wasn't sure how the game would work with his disability.

Putting Falin Saga Online into the maybe pile, Yuning decided to read through the rest of the list and pick out a few more games before checking to see if his disability would be a hindrance to him.  

Yuning had already found two other games that suited his taste when he saw a name that made him do a double-take. It was the name of the 10th most popular game which was called Nethersky. 

'NetherSky?! How odd, I used to play a game with that same name back in my time.' Intrigued by the game with the same name as the one he played before, he clicked the link that would take him to its website and read what the game was about. 'Shit, this is the same game I played. How could that be?'

The tapping of a keyboard, the screams of rage and laughter filtering through the world's softest headphones. It was supposed to be a chilling session of talking shit and playing a calming game-it was a bit too much to ask for at this stage. Ezra ran a hand through his dark locks, stifling a chuckle as his friend's voice just got angrier and shriller the longer they stayed in the dungeon.
"You're too angry for this game man…" Asmus' voice wavered with a mixture of concern and curiosity.
"Come here, lemme fuck your mother!" Was the reply she got as furious clicking ensued and he had to process what was just said.
"Cyril man, what the hell did you say?!" Ezra needed confirmation, just to make sure he wasn't going senile.
Embarrassed silence was all he got as his friend finally registered what he had shouted at the collection of pixels on his screen, snuffing and ignoring the question completely in favour of dying a bit more inside. Asmus-the ray of hope she was- proceeded to repeat exactly what was said as she fed her sheep on the other side of the map.
"Oh. Why would I expect any different?" Ezra sighed as Cyril snuffled out an apology before going straight back to cursing the skeletons.


Honestly, game night never failed to impress when Cyril and wholesome farming games were involved. The guy had the shortest fuse imaginable when it came to games but somehow was perfect at meditation. He was an enigma. But Ezra was happy that his friend was in such high spirits, probably because he got some new glasses and could actually see again. Asmus managed to get them to sit down and plan a get together again for all of 15 minutes before it just devolved into the situation they're in now. Cyril screaming in the dungeons, Ezra single-handedly causing deforestation to a quarter of the map and Asmus simply being the only benevolent of of the three, feeding their livestock and keeping the farm alive.
He was grateful for the game, its co-op was a godsend to the trio as they didn't live that close to each other and none of them could drive. Legally at least.  Asmus was the one who found it first and shared it to them during their weekly voice chats 3 years ago, leading to the other two picking up the game and just going ham. Last year the game had finally brought out a co-op option, which they had welcomed with open arms. The game in question was called Sunshine Adventure, a 3rd person, open world RPG. It was honestly great- hours of story lines you can go through or you could simply run around doing whatever you wish-which was exactly what Ezra had started doing when he began playing. When they created their own server it was all over- they decided to share a plot of land and create a base before branching out. It was going well, until Cyril discovered a dungeon and has been crawling through them ever since. Ezra had first simply gone out to gain levels and trade with the materials collected-but that turned into him simply harvesting everything he came across and selling it off in bulk before buying whatever they needed to continue with the base. Asmus was the only one who regularly tended to their base, creating a farm so they could have a stable food source instead of the guys just killing as many animals as they could before storing it all to be consumed during levelling.


"Jou ma-!" Was the only warning they got before the sounds of abject panic started to be conveyed through squeaks and the scraping of a chair.
"You good bro?" Ezra paused in worry as the scraping got louder.
"I'm okay! Don't worry I'll be right back!" Cyril's voice started fading as the noises got louder as he moved away from the computer.
Ezra and Asmus just paused in silence for a while before continuing with their activities. 'Probably got his foot chewed on by that little lizard again,' Ezra thought
, pausing in his activities when it continued to be silent. He opened his mouth to ask Asmus if they should turn on some crime channel to fill up the silence but his friend's return stopped him.
"I'm okay, I'm fine. I survived the dungeon but lost a shoe despite my best efforts." Cyril painfully let out as the chair scraped again to let them know he was sitting down.
"Rip shoe." Was the only condolence that Ezra could give in that moment.
Asmus piped up, smile evident in her voice. "You tried so hard-"
"And got so far." Came the reply.
"But in the end?"
"It didn't even matter!" The two finished at the same time.
He loved those two, never a boring moment with them.
 
But sometimes that isn't exactly a good thing.

The life and times of a boy who spawns chaos wherever he goes to the detriment of his cult, accompanied by his two friends who generally don't do much -unless it's to protect their own that is.

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