Ethan Graves was 26-year-old man, living in his small house.
He was a unemployed, been single for his whole life. A virgin who have never held a girl's hand before, let's forget about touch, he hadn't even talked to a girl properly in his whole life.
The only girls he has gone on a date with are AI or 2D
But tonight…none of that mattered to him at all.
He was staring at his monitor, his eyes were focused and his hands were shaking. Sweat started to form on his forehead.
The stinky smell of the instant noodles filled the room and there were too many empty cans of energy drink lying here and there in his room.
But right now, in this moment, he was a hero. No, he was a god.
"Come on… just a bit more—"
On his screen, his avatar—Overlord Veyrion—unleashed a final, destructive blast of dark mana. The raid boss, it was a cosmic dragon empress from the 9th realm, let out a yell of pain before her health bar shattered into thousands of crimson shards.
[CONGRATULATIONS. YOU HAVE CLEARED "REALMS OF ETERNAL DOMINION" 100%. UNLOCKING TRUE ENDING…]
Lazuli put his mouse on his table and leaned back into his creaky chair. He'd done it now. He had now cleared the hardest action-fantasy game which is currently available on the market. Every boss, every hidden route, every path of romance—well, except the female leads never chose him, not even in the game.
They were all obsessed and drooled over the cannon hero. Typical thing that happens in all fantasy-type games.
He sighed, stretched his arms, got up and jumped on his bed.
The fan was creaking a bit, he stared at the corner of his cracked ceiling.
Ethan sighed and said. "If only I could live in that world." He whispered under his breath. "If only I could be the one everyone feared…and desired. Not like a weak side character. No more fake heroes stealing the spotlight. Just me, ruling it all—with a harem of badass villainesses, warriors and queens at my side to protect me and obey me like their master."
He chuckled a bit and sighed. "Yeah… that's the dream. Just a dream, a pathetic loser like me can just dream."
He slowly fell asleep.
And then—
Boom.
A shockwave filled the entire room. A loud noise fell into his ears. His body started to feel like he was falling. No, it felt like rising.
He opened his eyes slowly, just to find himself lying stone in a burning crimson sky.
There were floating towers above him. Just a few meters away there was a black sun that was casting the shadows over the land.
His body… it felt different. It was taller and stronger and he was dressed in nice clothing. It felt like he was in the game.
A voice echoed in his mind. "Overlord…you have returned."
Ethan looked here and there, just to find that nobody was there. He thought that his mind was playing tricks on him.
Just a while later, a screen materialized in front of his eyes.
[OVERLORD SYSTEM ACTIVATED]
[Initializing User Sync… Complete.]
[Welcome, Player: Ethan Graves.]
[Title: SSS-Class Overlord]
[Harem Slots Unlocked: 0/999]
[Dominion Level: 1]
[Current Location: Realm of Embers – Tier 0 Starting Zone]
He was staring at it for a while now. He blinked before he said. "Wait. This…this isn't a dream? For real? This is a system window."
The window was flickering in front of his eyes, it had a gold and black interface. A map, stats, quests, skill trees and subjugation bonds. These options were in front of him.
Ethan's mouth went dry. "This is the game. It is Realms of Eternal Dominion. But… I'm inside of it? How?"
[Main Quest Initialized.]
[Objective: Rise as the True Overlord and Subjugate the Realms.]
[Warning: Death is permanent.]
He stared at the system window for a long time, then he looked at his hands. They were no longer soft and pale. They were now filled with calluses, they were made with rigorous strength training, little bit of dark energy was coming out of his hands.
Slowly a smile started to appear on his face. "Holy crap. I am here, I can do whatever the fuck I want now."