Chapter 1: Game Time

It was a rather stormy night. The internet was going haywire and I could barely fight a single enemy before my game froze. Certainly, not the ideal conditions to play games, but what else would I do?

Well, that's a lie. There is something. A couple days ago, before the storm, a black cat appeared on my screen. Not a metaphor, an actual black cat suddenly appeared on my screen. When I clicked it a file was downloaded onto my computer, titled "TRUE GAMERS ONLY!". I know the dangers of the internet, so I immediately deleted the file. But for some reason the second I deleted the file, it was redownloaded. After numerous repetitions I decided to move it to an empty hard drive. It didn't redownload this time. But for some reason, ever since it's been storming and raining.

I'm not one for superstition, but I feel like this program is the reason for the weather . I scrounge around my room, trying to find the hard drive. It was no easy task since my place had more trash bins than the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It took a minute, or maybe five. My sense of time has been warped after playing MMOs and single player games.

Found it! The hard drive was hiding underneath a pile of socks.

It was an old hard drive, with about 80 gigabytes total. The program took a surprising 75 gigabytes. I have a spare PC that I don't use, so I'll probably use that for booting up the program.

Hooking up another PC is a pain. Connecting all the cords and cables made me realise (again) that I should clean up my cables. I'll clean up later.

Booting up the PC and opening the file led to my PC freezing for a second. Not a good sign. The fans started spinning and suddenly, the PC melted. Literally turned into molten goo. Then the goo compressed itself together and took the form of… a cat? With headphones.

Standing beside me was a sleek black cat. It had gorgeous black hair and had black headphones with green accents on its neck. But that isn't the most surprising thing about the cat. The most surprising thing is its eyes. Black eyes, but where the pupil and iris would have been has been replaced by a power symbol dyed white.

Admittedly, very terrifying. Your computer suddenly turns into a seemingly alive cat with eyeballs that look like they've been ripped straight out of HD Neptunia. Who wouldn't be scared?

And then, it spoke.

"Do you need to be so dramatic?" The black cat questions. How can it talk? I don't think cats have the same voice box as a human. "You just saw me turn from a PC into a cat, and you're wondering how I can talk?" The black cat asks in an almost mocking tone. Admittedly, a very stupid question. "Yo-u--u, c-can you rea-ad my mind?" I whisper, my voice shaking off inactivity. I don't usually use my voice, so it sounds like a rusty screech.

The black cat looks at me. It doesn't change its facial expression. Doesn't widen its eyes or even do anything, not even talk. Yet I feel like it was telling me 'do you understand your stupidity' in a silent voice.

"Good, so you understand." The cat purrs. Thankfully It can read minds, so I don't have to use my lacking conversation skills and deal with my lisp.

"So, I should probably address why I came here." The cat explains in a very magnanimous manner. "After searching through all the worlds, I've decided that you are the most promising for my new project."

It's interesting that the cat is telling me that it searched through all the worlds, if it was me searching for someone for my project I would pick the closest viable candidate that doesn't seem like they'll screw up.

The Black cat seems to grow uncomfortable at my thoughts. "Ridiculous, do you think I would half-ass my first important project?" The cat growls. The way the cat's saying 'my first project' makes me feel like this is a lackey. Or maybe an outstanding employee that's doing shoddy work for their first project because they have leniency.

"I'm not a lackey! I'm not shodding work! Your claims are absurd." The cat defends itself. It annoys me how the cat is responding to my thoughts and not finishing his little piece of exposition.

"'Haaa, whatever. You have been selected to save the title "GAMER" from being completely corrupted. In order to do this task, you will be going through a highly universal tech Galaxy generation game, DxD. You will play through the game, and at the end you will be graded on what you have done to the "GAMER" title. The reason for the game being based on DxD is because through scientific deduction DxD, made by Ichiei Ishibumi, has been deemed the perfect environment for grading. Any questions."

The cat spoke at light speeds. If I understand what the cat's saying, I'm going to play a game version of High School DxD, made with High Universal level technology, just to see how a gamer develops the title 'GAMER'.

"That's about right."

Why DxD of all things.

"Highschool DxD was deemed to have excellent amounts of worldbuilding, leaving minimal things to be fixed and debugged. Including that it has high levels of sexual content and a slightly ridiculous sense of power scaling, the prime reason the "GAMER" title has fallen so low. Beating DxD will give an adequate indication that the "GAMER" title shouldn't be tampered with."

That's a lot to unpack, but I sorta get it. But why is this project happening? At my question, the black cat seems to growl. It seems angry.

"Due to repetitive pollution of the "GAMER" title, the Board is debating whether to allow "GAMERS" to exist, or partially fuse them with other titles such as AUTHOR in order to save energy. The reason for this project is to demonstrate why "GAMER" shouldn't be merged. If they were to be merged, I alongside lots of game-related deities and existences would die or be permanently altered."

So basically, titles are important, the heads of some probably important thing are deciding whether to keep "GAMERS" or partially fuse them and I have to somehow prove them wrong?

"Yes, that's about right."

I completely understand.

So this Board, what is it?

The cat seems to get defensive. "I can't tell you that." Why? "Because it's classified. Furthermore your time is up, it's time to move." Move? Why would I mov—----

My eyes grow tired, and I collapse.

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I see white. Getting up and looking around, all I see is a white mist. Nothing else exists except for the mist.

Well, that's not entirely true. A little to the left of me are three objects. A little remote looking object. A Keyboard and Mouse, as well as a controller. They're not plugged or anything. Just floating in the white mist like me.

"How does it feel?" The cat asks. It certainly feels strange. I'm in an empty place where there is nothing above or below me. It's like those ships with glass floors, except now the 'floor' is everywhere. I have plenty of questions about my situation, but I'll rein them in for now. Hopefully the cat explains.

The cat purrs, clearly pleased with my behaviour. "To give a brief explanation, this is the "GAMER ROOM," as I like to call it. But officially it's called the 'Misty Room'. In the Misty Room, you'll be playing the game: HIGHEST SCHOOL DXD, DREAMING INFINITE DRAGON GOD X THREE HEX DESTRUCTION: SAGA OF THE LEGENDARY. (+DLC HIGHER SCHOOL DXD: ANOTHER WORLD EXE????). Though for simpicities sake I'll call it DXD.

This is a super realistic game, constantly developing new choices and storylines for your playthrough. The devs work round the clock to make sure you don't screw anything up.

You'll be doing this on Hardcore Ironman. Meaning no saves, and when you die, unless other forces interfere, you do not get a second chance. Your goal will be to defeat Trihexa, the two dragon gods and then you'll have the option of doing the DLC.

Soon you'll get a screen showing a first-person view on the character you'll be playing. You can control this character with the three systems." The cat's tail points in the general direction of the remote thing, keyboard and controller. "You can use keyboard and mouse. Controller or Motion controls." Please note that you'll be starting this game as a newborn, to make sure you can fully adjust to your changes."

So that's what the remote thing was. It was a Wii controller. I can feel waves of nostalgia hitting me. It's been a while since I've last seen one. The only console that convinced gamers to move their bodies, look where it got it.

"Please focus." The cat growls.

Do I have to use three different control methods?

"While not mandatory, I feel you'll find it easier to play the game if you use all the methods. All have their advantages and disadvantages. The controller isn't good for intricate precise movements like the keyboard is. The keyboard isn't good for handwriting or crafting anything beyond the symbols on the keyboard, while motion controls would most definitely help. And motion controls wouldn't allow you to fire rapidly like a controller does."

What the hell is Trihexa?

"To fulfil the requirements for fair testing, a fictional plane was used. We used the DXD light novel series as the base. Do not fret, for inconsistencies we put the anime into higher priority because you haven't read the DXD light novel. Trihexa is an extremely powerful character on the level of Great Red and Ophis. You wouldn't encounter the name much or at all until the endgame."

Your Constantly spouting things about a fair test. What do you mean?

"You and another person will be selected to play and write DXD. You are a gamer at heart, while your opponent is a reader and author at heart. He will also be in a 'Misty Room', writing his character traversing DXD until he completes his goal. He will be supervise and all of his writings will be rated on their plausibility. He will fail if he manages to softlock himself or write himself into a death.

You play the game DXD, with a simulation of your opponent. Similarly your opponent will face a simulation of you in their story. We are testing to see whether the title 'GAMER' is worth sustaining' or if it's better for merging with 'AUTHOR'.

If you reach the end first you will win. That is why we keep things fair." The black cat expositions. It seems to be getting tired of it.

Huh, Interesting. I only have one more question. "What is it?" the cat purrs. It seems incredibly proud of its position as an exposition character.

What happens to me if I die?

The black cat pauses for a moment.

A good question. Currently in a empty space (?) with no exit. What would happen if I die or lose?

"If you die or lose in the game you will be outed from the experiment and returned to your body." The black cat says slowly. It's left ear twitches a little.

The cat flicks its tail. "There have been enough questions. It's time for you to start playing." With that said, the cat disappeared without another word. Come to think of it, I never got its name.

A place between the three controls lights up and a bright screen comes into existence. Guess it's time to start playing.

*—-------------*-----------‐—----------*--------------*--------------------*----------------------*------

I was fretting. My child was about to be born. I was pacing around the hospital lobby. What if something goes wrong? What if we aren't able to look after the child enough. 'What ifs' were filling my mind. Maybe I should have stayed a wandering magician, instead of settling down.

Was deciding to have another child a mistake? I'm already 40, will my child be happy having a father as old as me?

"Mr Elms, the procedure is complete. Please enter ward 4." The desk lady tells me. I rush to the ward. My anxieties fill me to the brim. Opening the door, I'm met with my wife holding a child.

"He's a boy, Micheal ." My wife greets me with a tired breath. "What should we name him?" I ask. She thinks for a moment. "Edward." Why is that? She seems to read my thoughts. "Edward is my dad's middle name. Nothing else to it." She mutters. It could be worse. I hold up the child.

"Be mighty and strong, the world will be a tough place, but I know you can do it, Edward." His eyes look at me. If he wasn't a newborn I would mistake it for intelligence, but it's probably just the aftereffects of crying so much.

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"Why didn't anyone tell me about the pains of labour?" My wife complains from her bed.. But that's weird, didn't she give birth before? "Hey, didn't you give birth before?" I inquire. She sends me a confused look. "No, this is our first child." Weird, why did I think we had another. Searching my memories I don't see anything about another child; so why do I feel like I'm forgetting something.

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Several hours after Micheal Elms left the hospital.

A shadowy figure sneaks into ward 4. The figure sneaks all the way towards the child. It doesn't seem to do anything to the child, just stare at it. When the moonlight shines on the figure, Long sandy blonde hair and eyes that seem to grow a weak amber make their appearance.

"He's very cute. I hope he grows well." A feminine voice leaks out of the figure. She touches the child's cheeks, seemingly stroking them. "I have work to do, but I'll make sure I'll be a sis–"

The voice cuts off. She seems to be having trouble finishing her sentence. Minutes go by as she seemingly contemplates. She seems to have finally chosen her words. "I'll make sure to be an Angel for you, Edward."

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