Note: this is skippable pls skip it
Elysia was supposed to be just a game. Not just any game, either—it was the kind that made other MMORPGs feel like checkers. Immense, beautiful, and cruelly intricate. Cities that breathed, forests that shifted with time, dungeons that were almost alive. Rumor had it the AI could adapt to players' choices, that the world remembered. That it could punish mistakes, reward courage, and sometimes… surprise you in ways the developers didn't intend.
For most people, it was escapism. For Reiji, it was home.
He hadn't always been a shut-in. Once, he had plans, a schedule, expectations from family and school. But life has a way of collapsing, and slowly, carefully, Reiji retreated. Social events, deadlines, responsibilities—they all became too loud, too unpredictable. He found his peace in controlled worlds: games where every rule was clear, every skill measurable, every victory earned.
Elysia promised more than that. It wasn't just a set of quests or dungeons. It was a world alive with possibility, with secrets waiting for someone clever enough—or stubborn enough—to find them. And Reiji, a man who had become expert in watching, waiting, and exploiting systems, couldn't resist.
He had played countless games before, but Elysia felt different. The first time he logged in, the sunrise over the capital city made his breath catch. Every NPC had subtle animations, dialogue that shifted depending on context, rumors that spread and evolved. The landscapes weren't just rendered—they lived. Even now, Reiji couldn't decide if the thrill was in the challenge, the immersion, or just the reminder that somewhere, in this coded world, he could still matter.
And then there was him: Reiji.
Not the hero, not the player who would save a kingdom, not the legendary type his friends—or anyone—expected him to be. Just a guy who had learned to hide, to survive, to watch and wait. A gamer who had memorized every shortcut, exploited every glitch, and thrived on being unseen until he chose otherwise.
Elysia didn't care who he was—or so he thought. But every system, every line of code, every hidden variable had a way of noticing players who didn't fit the mold. Players who disrupted the flow. Players who could bend the rules.
Reiji wasn't looking for adventure. He was just looking for control.
But in a game like Elysia, control is an illusion.
And Reiji was about to find out just how fragile it could be.