Prologue — Living Hell

"Where am I?" Michael wondered aloud, his eyes darting around the unfamiliar surroundings teeming with ghost-like individuals, each seemingly trapped in the same predicament as him.

He observed their mouths moving, yet no words resonated throughout the white void. The silence was profound, as though everyone present existed in a suspended moment of non-existence.

After many hours had passed, and just as everyone was losing hope, a voice resonated throughout the void.

"Hello, Earthlings! You have been chosen as the representatives of Xylothar across the universe!"

There was a brief pause before the voice continued. "Do not worry, for each of you will receive a gift as a token of appreciation for participating in this remarkable project!"

Upon hearing those words, the same thought crossed the minds of all the humans present: "We had no choice!"

"Here yo—" The words were abruptly cut off by a small voice heard in the background.

"My lord! As your right hand, I must advise against that. Releasing everything at once could potentially cause faults in the interface!"

After a few seconds of silence, the voice cleared its throat before speaking again.

"As I was saying, you will each receive a gift for your participation. Once you receive this gift, you will be teleported out of this place, and everything will be explained to you."

The next moment, a golden screen appeared before Michael. He took a step back in shock and glanced around to see if anyone else was witnessing what he was seeing.

He noticed that everyone around him was also looking ahead in surprise, with some individuals clicking or swiping at the air.

Michael assumed that every individual was the only one who could see their own screen. However, before he could examine it properly, his vision suddenly darkened until it was pitch black, and he lost consciousness.

Waking up to a new environment, Michael saw Upon waking, Michael found himself in a new and eerie environment. The sky above was a dark shade of red, and the ground beneath him was a dark brown, covered in what appeared to be dried blood. The landscape was barren except for colossal mountains looming in the distance, their color resembling the dark red sky but brighter.

The golden screen reappeared, but this time it looked markedly different from its appearance in the white void.

[H̸̺̜̭̥̯̟̦̀e̴̳̤͓͍̼̭͑͋̈́͂̅̕l̶̨̞̻̙̟͔̻̥͕̖̽̿̑̔͠ḽ̵̥͔̎̆͒͂͛͘͜͜ǒ̶̝͋́̐̈́͒͝͝͝ Michael! I am your ıŋɬɛཞʄąƈɛ! Kill monster and reach Level 5 to unlock your c̴̪͖̄̊̉̉̋̾l̵̗͙̺̞̝̊̐̄̈́̅̀́̑̕͝a̴͓͚̫̯͔̥̙̟̻̭͝š̸͚̼̀̈́̇̎͘̕͝ś̶̤͍̘̖̬̒̓̽͂͊͌͂ and Level 30 to reun!t3 with the Earthlings!]

Confusion clouded Michael's expression. The message he had briefly glimpsed in the white void was nothing like what he was seeing now on the golden screen.

That's when Michael thought back to the warning from the mysterious voice, 'Releasing everything at once could potentially cause faults in the interface!" Could this be the reason? Is my interface faulty?'

Michael quickly brushed aside the issue, deciding it wasn't too much of a problem, despite some of the words being difficult to read.

As Michael prepared to explore this world in search of monsters, he heard a growl coming from behind him.

Turning around, Michael was confronted by a menacing sight—a black wolf with sword-like fangs and claws that resembled a hybrid of a dragon. Its black fur bristled like miniature swords poking out from its back.

[Level 1 Demon Wolf]

Michael's legs began to tremble uncontrollably, and his body felt as though it might crumble at any moment.

"T-This is a level 1 monster?!" He said.

Back on Earth, he was just a normal 19-year-old guy who lived with his mother. He had never been in a fight before—never even harmed an ant.

Now he was standing before a wolf that looked like it could take down a herd of elephants without breaking a sweat.

When he saw the message instructing him to hunt monsters to level up, he had assumed it would be a weak monster like a slime from those mobile games—something to ease the player into the experience and make them comfortable.

The wolf pounced at Michael with swift movements. He jumped out of the way and began running, but it was futile—the wolf caught up to him in no time.

Michael grabbed stones from the ground and hurled them at the wolf, hoping to slow it down, but the wolf easily shrugged off the stones without slowing down.

Once again, the wolf pounced at Michael with the same ferocity as their first encounter, but Michael managed to dodge out of the way once more.

They repeated this process multiple times, and it became clear to Michael that the wolf had only one attack pattern: leaping at its prey.

'Even if it only has one attack pattern, how am I supposed to kill it without a weapon'" he wondered. That's when he caught a glimpse of a huge boulder perched on top of a nearby cliff. "Please, God, let this work!"

He positioned himself in front of the cliff and waited for the wolf to attack. As he dodged out of the way at the last moment, the wolf collided with the cliff, causing the boulder on top to shift forward.

He repeated this process several times until, on the third attempt, the boulder rolled down the cliff with great speed, ultimately squishing the wolf beneath its massive weight.

[suoıʇɐlnʇɐɹɓuoƆ on killing a L҉e҉v҉e҉l҉ 1 Demon Wolf!]

[500 Exp!]

[Level Up! +5 SP]

[Michael Wayne]

[Cłæss: N0ne]

[ֆȶʀɛռɢȶɦ: 1]

[Sp33d: 1][.5]

[Ðefenße: 1]

[SP: 5]

Without hesitation, he allocated 3 Skill Points (SP) into Strength, 1 SP into Speed, and the remaining SP into Defense.

At first glance, nothing about him visibly changed, but the sensations coursing through his body felt otherworldly, almost addicting from the intensity.

With a hopeful smile. "I'm going to find my way out of here in no time."

But his smile quickly vanished, replaced by eyes as wide as saucers.

[C0ngratulation$ 0n L҉e҉v҉e҉l҉ 2! 10 Trillion Exp f0r th3 next Level!]

With a forced, playful chuckle. "This gotta be a mistake because of my faulty interface. There's no way it's really that high."

[500 Exp]

[500 Exp]

[500 Exp]

[500 Exp]

After hours of hunting down Demon Wolves, Michael was dismayed to find that he still hadn't leveled up.

He collapsed on the ground, breathless. "I'm... I'm done for..."

1 Years Later

[7,980 Exp]

3 Years Later

[97,129 Exp]

20 Years Later

[7,638,748 Exp]

100 Years Later

[50,000,000 Exp]

Inside of a colossal structure crafted from bones stronger than any material on Earth, Michael was painstakingly carving his mother's portrait into a bone of a Hell Dragon he killed.

As he continued to kill monsters, his stats grew so high that he stopped aging altogether. However, he faced the frustrating limitation of only gaining a maximum of 50 million experience points from each monster he slayed.

Michael sighed heavily. "When will the next monster spawn?"

He turned to face the enormous severed head of the Hell Dragon.

"I know you only spawn three times a day. But with no clock, how am I gonna know?"

He carefully placed the bone statue of his mother on a rocky table among hundreds of other statues of various kinds.

182 Years

[Level Up! +5 SP]

Upon receiving the notification, he stared at the ground in silence for a few minutes.

He looked up at the sky. "FINALLY!"

[C0ngratulation$ 0n L҉e҉v҉e҉l҉ 3! 900 Trillion Exp f0r th3 next Level!]