Survivor: Kaito Level: 1 Active Skill: [Firearm Mimicry Lvl. 1] (Scales with Attack Speed and Attack Power) Description: Automated tracking and engagement of all hostiles within effective range. Attributes: None
Tatatake! Tatatake!
Another headshot!
Flesh and blood dissolved into experience points, scattering across the ground. As Kaito moved within a three-meter range, the XP orbs automatically gravitated toward him, merging into his body.
[当当当! Congratulations! You have leveled up!]
[Please select an upgrade path:] Firearm Mimicry 1 → 2 Attack Speed 0 → 1 Attack Power 0 → 1
Without a second thought, Kaito instantly selected his starting skill, Firearm Mimicry.
Firearm Mimicry 2: Can mimic several types of weapons simultaneously.
"Honestly, who cares about Elden Ring or Dark Souls gameplay? Hack-and-slash Roguelikes are where the real fun is at!"
What was the point of going over there just to get bullied by a game? Technology was so advanced these days; even if you ground out a lifetime of martial arts mastery, what would it get you?
Kaito clicked the virtual game panel and toggled to first-person mode.
His perspective suddenly dropped. A flashy toy gun appeared in Kaito's hands. It felt slightly heavy, but that tactile sense of weight was exactly what made him addicted to this new game.
Realism—that's what gaming is all about!
"You really can't beat these 'forbidden' games from indie studios! This kind of illicit, unapproved stuff... it's the best!!!"
The next monster wave spawned. Kaito executed a tactical dive. Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three headshots. Additionally, the muzzles manifesting around his body were automatically seeking out targets.
Based on his automatic XP pickup radius, the experience bar at the bottom of Kaito's vision reset once more. He had reached Level 3.
[Please select your upgrade path:] Firearm Mimicry 2 → 3 Movement Speed 0 → 1 Artillery Support 0 → 1
He went with the brainless choice again: the starting skill.
Firearm Mimicry 3: When you kill an enemy, you can mimic the enemy's weapon.
"Huh?"
"What kind of garbage evolution path is that? No wonder this is stuck being a forbidden game."
Stepping over the blurred-out piles of flesh, Kaito shifted his thoughts. A kitchen knife and a baseball bat—the kind used by common mobs for self-defense—appeared in his hands.
"I hope Level 4 lets me strengthen these basic weapons, otherwise the designer really has a screw loose!"
Bang!
A gunshot rang out. Kaito's vision flashed red. Seeing that 1/5th of his health bar had vanished from the bottom right corner, he directly switched back to his main weapon. A "dak-dak-dak" curtain of fire instantly vaporized the elite mob.
After the elite died, a massive card materialized in his field of vision. Kaito rushed over to pick it up.
[Obtained Bonus Attribute Choice:] Attack Speed 0 → 1 Attack Power 0 → 1 Vitality 0 → 1
The sudden attribute choice made Kaito pause for a moment. His health was down, and it didn't seem like the mobs in this game dropped health packs.
But!
He still chose Attack Speed.
Attack Speed 1: Your attack speed is increased by 20%.
He didn't feel any different, but when the next wave of mobs surged out from the streets, Kaito clearly felt that his trigger-pulling speed was much faster.
"Where are the chests? Where are the quests? This game has absolutely nothing!"
Kaito sprinted down the street. The map provided for this starter character seemed to have a bug; the mobs only spawned at fixed points instead of spawning naturally outside his line of sight.
So, if he wanted to level up, he had to keep running across the map.
No wonder it's a forbidden game! Trash designer!
Time accelerated. Day turned to night in a flash. Kaito swiped through his interface.
Survivor: Kaito Level: 9 Active Skills: [Firearm Mimicry Lvl. 5], [Artillery Support Lvl. 3] Attributes: [Attack Speed Lvl. 3], [Skill Frequency Lvl. 2]
Firearm Mimicry 5: All that the eye beholds shall be subject to me. Artillery Support 3: Artillery shells will evolve based on the strongest weapon you currently understand. Attack Speed 3: Your attack speed is increased by 60%. Skill Frequency 2: Your skill cast frequency is increased by 40%.
"No boss?"
"And why would you make the weather system so realistic for a Roguelike, does the designer have bubbles in their brain?"
Kaito sat on the rooftop. He seemed to have cleared all the mobs on this map; there were only three elite monsters in total.
I'm not expected to run to the next map on foot, am I?
Looking at the system guide pointing toward a destination about six kilometers away, Kaito leaped straight off the skyscraper.
As he fell past the dilapidated but still vertical buildings, he shifted his thoughts. The structures seemed to tilt as a hoverboard appeared under his feet. Gliding down from a height of nearly a hundred meters took only dozens of seconds at high speed.
"This physical feedback!!! So good!!!"
Mimicking the latest high-speed floating combat vehicle, Kaito prepared to blast his way to the next map.
Though a few stray mobs popped up occasionally along the road, the muzzles floating around him killed them automatically. The XP orbs chased desperately after the speeding vehicle.
This Musou-style bliss lasted until... until he saw the boss. A young girl with pink hair and a look of grim determination.
She drew her bow. She stood in his path. She was attempting to stop the high-speed floating vehicle.
Hmph! Foolish! Reckless!
Kaito's gaze hardened. Let's see how you handle the impact of a 2060-model combat vehicle!
Explode into an attribute card for me!
CRASH!
[GAME OVER]
Kaito lay in his gaming pod, stunned for a long time. How did I die?
I didn't even see what happened.
Did this trash game just not design the maps further ahead? So if you run out of bounds, you just get hit by a scripted death?
He tried to touch the prompt for the second stage, only to be told that the first stage hadn't been cleared yet. The requirement was to reach Level 15.
Clicking back into the first stage, he realized the game had a play-time limit; he'd have to wait at least half an hour before re-entering.
"Trash game."
"I'll play again when I get home."
Kaito pushed open the pod and stretched lazily.
"Kaito, stop playing games. The boss said if we don't come up with a complete, cohesive world-building concept soon, the entire planning team is going to have to pack our bags and get out."
A colleague looked over, face full of worry and exhaustion. There wasn't even any room for complaining; he looked like a perfectly broken corporate drone.
"The previous world-building got tossed in the trash again?"
"By the way, is that idiot lead designer still second-guessing themselves?"
Kaito wore a "called it" expression.
The colleague beside him started frantically winking and gesturing. Before Kaito could try to backtrack, a cold, clear voice drifted from behind him.
"You have a problem with Bronya?"
A beautiful girl with silver hair cascading like a waterfall stood leaning against the corner of a desk with her arms crossed. Her leg, encased in a single white stocking, tapped the floor rhythmically. She did not look happy.
Kaito: "..."
"Who's spreading such rumors?! How could I possibly have a problem with you, Boss!"
Even if the "Boss" hadn't made it to the finals of the [Gaming Competition] in five years.
Last year, under the eyes of the world, she was eliminated in the Top 16—a first-round exit right in her own backyard in Russia.
Still, being able to claw through the qualifiers every year only to get knocked out in the world tournament... that was a type of skill in itself.
Thinking of this, Kaito reflexively wanted to laugh, but he held it in.
"I hope the reason you're being so mouthy is because you've come up with a new creative idea."
Bronya's tone was haunting. Don't think she didn't know what Kaito called her in private: "Useless Duck, Useless Duck, Top 8 every year, occasionally Top 16, what a total loser Duckie!"
Kaito quickly tried to pivot: "Ahem, well, I remember that the Boss originally made a name for herself based on the world-building of Imaginary Energy and Honkai."
Back in her youth, Bronya had fought her way to the grand finals. Although she narrowly lost to an old-school Austrian game company, she was still hailed as the "Genius Producer" of the gaming world.
Even now, that game still had plenty of hype and spin-offs.
For example... that bloody, forbidden, un-marketable Roguelike Kaito had just been playing.