"You can't just do this to me!" Kazuma mumbles to himself as he slams the table in frustration.
His manager's voice still echoed within his head.
"You're always late, Kazuma. Always tired with no energy, and always slow at doing things. I have no choice but to fire you, it's from the higher ups."
Energy.
He almost laughed. How could he be energetic when every day was a repeat of the last one?
"Damn this... It was boring, but at least bearable. How could I lose such a well paying job?"
He stared blankly at the computer in front of him and exhaled a dry laugh.
"Guess I'm free now, huh?"
He turned on his computer and and stared at the glowing screen. The wallpaper of Eternal Saga smiled back at him, the same game that he had been playing as a hobby for the past 3 years. It was a fantasy game, where you could use magic, wield a weapon, and it was a game with different endings and different storylines. The possibilities were endless.
It was a world where people actually cheered for you, a world that didn't care whether you were awkward, broke or alone. Perhaps, that was the reason why Kazuma was so fond of this game.
He pressed enter. The login sound effect played, a sound more comforting than any human voice he'd heard in months.
[Welcome back, User "Kazuma52"]
"Hey buddy." he muttered to the screen. "At least you never fire me."
The loading screen faded. His character stood on cliffs, cape fluttering in the wind. He was in the body of Kael, a third rate villain in the game's main storyline which he chose as his character and progressed.
Hours passed.
Then days.
He stopped opening the curtains.
Stopped checking his phone.
The outside world grew distant from Kazuma.
All that remained was the endless grind.
Quests. Raids. Loot. Repeat.
His stomach growled sometimes, but he ignored it.
The only hunger he recognized anymore was for seeing the "Dungeon Cleared" screen.
"Just one more dungeon," he whispered, eyes bloodshot. "Then I'll sleep."
But there was always one more.
Kazuma hadn't moved for hours. Sweat clung to his shirt and his mouse hand trembled.
The final boss of the game, Demon King Beelzebub was across his monitor.
Kazuma's hand moved the mouse mechanically, guided by the thousands of hours he spent on the game. His health bar blinked red, his vision blurry.
"Come on... Just a few more hits!"
[Critical! -9999 HP!]
[You have defeated the demonking.]
"Ha..." A faint smile. The first one he made in weeks.
"I did it..."
Then everything went dark.
Silence. Not even the noise of the computer, nor the game's sound. Just... nothing.
He wasn't breathing anymore.
But death wasn't the end. A faint ringing echoed in the darkness.
[System rebooting.. Synchronizing soul data.. Initializing vessel.]
A blinding light swallowed him.
"What the hell is happening...?" Kazuma's voice echoed in the void.
[Welcome to Eternal Saga.]
His eyes shot open. He gasped for air—real air, not the disgusting air of a gamer's room.
"What the...."
He looked down. His hands were smaller, his skin smooth and youthful. He saw his reflection in a nearby fountain and it made his heart stop.
Silver hair. Crimson eyes. He saw that face thousands of times.
The face of Kael Fahmer, the character that he chose and mainly uses in the game.
"No way... this is-"
A shout echoed from behind.
"Hey! You there! What are you doing here? Classes are about to start."
Kazuma turned, and he saw Linozer stood at the gate, a gatekeeper for the academy. He played Eternal Saga so much that he recognized an NPC. He also recognized the place that he was at. An academy. The same one from the game's capital city.
"Wait... no, this can't be real."
He pinched himself and the pain shot right through his arm.
It was real. Very real.
The gate shimmered with magic sigils, and above it, glowing letters read:
"Aurelion Academy"
Wind brushed his hair as he whispered to himself, dazed and trembling.
"I... reincarnated into Eternal Saga?"
His surrounding pulsed with mana, a feeling that he never felt before. It was almost as if he had gained the sixth sense.
And for the first time in years,
Kazuma smiled. Not just a faint smile, but a ridiculous smile. Not out of happiness, but out of pure disbelief.