[We've re-uploaded this novel for the Webnovel Spirity Awards Spring 2020. Wish us luck!]
Author's note: Hey guys! Riley Petesgeralt here. I originally wrote this story together with a close friend of mine 8-9 years back. It all started when we were reading manga while playing Dungeons and Dragons. "If we could have a supernatural power, what would it be?" And that got us thinking - What would that amazing power be?
That's when we dissected what made anime and manga protagonist so powerful. Was it magic? Was it teleportation? Was it superb strength? That's when it dawned upon us. No. It isn't magic or super strength, but the potential to get those abilities. What made an anime protagonist so strong was not their inherited abilities, but how fast they could grow.
Facing an antagonist of a new arc you can barely even scratch? No problem! Just enter a time-skip training arc, and voila! You're now able to take on the antagonist easily; your one-month training trumps the years of dedications and hard work the antagonist had put in to his art. It's as if... you're a game character.
That's when we started writing this novel; a novel about an average boy who receives game-like abilities, where completing quests and practicing a single move over and over again helps him become stronger, stronger than an average human would be able to accomplish. We started chronicling our thoughts and imaginations, just what I would do normally for our Dungeons and Dragons escapades. 40,000 words in, and we stopped.
I've recently re-discovered our work, and honestly, I still think it's impressive, given that it was written almost a decade ago. Nevertheless, I've decided to start posting these chapters once a week on Sundays (or more often, depending), to keep myself accountable to write more, especially during the COVID19 situation. If I stop writing, well, we'll run dry by Chapter 20. So, this keeps me vigilant, and driven to continue writing without getting left behind.
If you've ever fantasised about being in a game world, or you love manga like Solo Levelling or The Gamer, this story/novel will be right up your alley. Let me know what you think of it so that I can improve. Who knows? Maybe one of your suggestions may be added into the story!