Clad in heavy and shining plate armor, Nikolas faced the last boss of the Dungeon alone. He was grinding for experience since he was on his 10000th new game plus. Every time he restarted the game he would keep his items and gain special bonuses but the difficulty increased slightly and he had to level up all over again.
The interesting part about the game, however, is that it wasn't exactly linear or scripted! Your companions don't always have to be the same, any NPC can become a companion and you don't have to be the good guy! Although you have to kill the main boss, after all, you cannot be a villain if there is no world to spread your villainy.
This is what made this world magical for him, every new playthrough he could have a different background, level up through different means, learn different professions, and have a completely different adventure!
With his mighty greatsword, he slashed on the last enemy, a blue-skinned cyclops, using the power of the god of the light! Strands of pure energy enveloped the blade and created an on-hit aftereffect that increased the damage dealt by 5 times!
It was necessary, this boss was a pain in the ass because he was a mix of a tank and mage class, and the cyclops had a special magic that allowed him to freeze you in stone, reducing your physical and magical defense by almost seventy percent, he was one of the few things that could one-hit-kill you in the whole game.
The sword penetrated the flesh of the cyclops making blood spill on the ground as he was thrown backward with great strength! He flew so far away that he ended up hitting a wall on the back of the boss room, and destroyed it!
Nikolas couldn't believe what he was seeing, it wasn't the first time he got a critical attack while using the [Luminus wrath] skill, but it was the first time that he saw this secret room!
Blinking his eyes, he noticed his experience bar increasing slightly, he put his greatsword on his back and walked towards the hole on the wall.
The body of the boss was laying there on the ground, and besides him, a few shining lights could be seen, they were items that were dropped when he died.
Nikolas ignored that and kept walking as he looked at the walls, where ancient drawings could be seen. He knew more or less what they meant, he had seen them before.
The drawings showed the canon path of the hero, which could only be followed if you choose your protagonist to have the original background of being an orphan adopted by a farmer.
He walked to the end of the room, where the drawings suddenly split into many little strands, they then connected again on the ceiling. There, they became the drawing of a shadowy person touching some sort of door.
"Weird..." He muttered.
Nikolas was about to save the game and publish his discovery on the forums online but was surprised seeing a door blocking the way out...
"This... Amazing!" His eyes shined with the possibility of having discovered a new questline!
Wasting no time he stepped forward and touched the door, however, as soon as it opened he didn't manage to stop in time and fell down towards a dark infinite void!
"Ahh!" He shouted as the powerful winds passed through his ears!
How did this happen? Where was he? He couldn't understand what was happening!
The game interface suddenly disappeared together with his armor, he couldn't pause the game nor close it! Tears fell from his eyes as his heart trembled with the possibility of having fallen in some sort of critical game-breaking bug! Perhaps, this place wasn't meant to be found!
Shouting and crying he kept falling for another minute until his body fell on the ground of what seemed to be a forest and he blacked out...
...
A beautiful girl looked at him, she was seating on some sort of golden throne, her hair was pinkish-blue, different from anything he had seen before, and she had shining amber eyes. The luxurious robes barely covered her white snow-like skin, allowing him to look at most of her body.
He gulped and looked at her with wide eyes, he had a familiar feeling as he looked at her, his heart was beating extremely fast and he didn't know what to do.
But he actually didn't have to do anything, she stood up and kneeled right in front of him who was seating on the ground.
She touched his face, then his lips with her fingers, there was a smile on her face.
"I've decided," her angelical voice resounded in his ears, making him blush as he looked at her beautiful face just a few centimeters away from him. "You are the only person who did this much... Such passion, I felt it..."
She approached even more and hugged him, her boobs pressed on his chest making him shudder with the unfamiliar but welcoming feeling, "I won't force you, but now that you have attracted my attention, you can't blame me for trying." She whispered in his ears. "Now go, do your best, but know that I won't give you an advantage, you will be like any other, show me your efforts, show me how far you can go. If you work hard, I assure you that no legacy or inheritance will be enough to defeat you!"
She then kissed his cheek and at that moment his surroundings became dark and he waked up under the shadows of a tree.
He breathed that fresh air, feeling his whole body cooling down under the breeze...
"Oi! Nikolas!"
Blinking his eyes, the fourteen years old boy sat down and looked at the person shouting at him, it was a boy with short blonde hair wearing common clothes that most villagers use.
He stopped in front of Nikola, panting heavily as he threw two rusted iron swords on the ground and used his knee as a support for his hands while trying to catch his breath.
Nikolas looked at him trying to understand what was happening, he didn't know where he was, nor who this boy was! In fact, he couldn't even tell how he got in this place! His homeland didn't have such a beautiful forest...
He was almost losing faith when suddenly an influx of information filled his head in a second. He could only blink his eyes and stare with wide eyes at his hands.
'I... transmigrated... into the world of Andromeda's fate...' He couldn't believe it! This... it was a dream becoming reality!
He stood up with a smile on his face and started laughing.
"Hahaha! It's real, it's real! I, Nikolas Graham, will show this world what it means to have power! I'll make all of my dreams true!" He was foolishly smiling as he thought about his new reality.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Stuart gave him a look that said 'weirdo' and picked up one of the swords on the ground. "Stop daydreaming and let's go! The chief asked us to hunt a Flameboar!"
"Eh? Oh, sure, let's go!" He smiled as picked up a sword and started running to the north, towards the thermal fountains.
Stuart sighed and shook his head before following him. But they soon stopped running, the swords were heavy, and they couldn't carry them and run at the same time, it was too tiring.
They walked for some time, Nikolas could only think about his whole new life, his background as the son of a farmer made him wonder if he was the hero of the game!
Up until this point, every single thing seemed to make sense, he had a childhood friend who accompanied him on his huntings, he was the 'son' of a farmer because his father didn't tell him yet that he was found floating in a river... All that remained now was the coming of age ceremony, where the mark of the god Luminus would appear on his chest and he would gain its power!
Seeing that foolish smile on his face again, Stuart raised an eyebrow and looked at him in wonder.
"Why are you smiling like that for so long, Nikolas? Could it be that you confessed to one of the girls?! You do know that if the girl's father discovers this he will force you to marry his daughter, right?
"What!?" Nikolas almost tripped on a rock in the middle of the path when he heard that. "What the hell are you talking about? Have you seen me flirting with some girl before? Don't speak nonsense!"
"Eh!? Could it be that you prefer boys!?" He looked at him with a strange expression on his face. "Wait! Is this why you keep inviting me to hunt with you!? Wath the hell man! I'm straight, completely straight!"
"Shut up Stuart! Unless you wanna get beaten till you become half-dead, stop saying so much nonsense and help me find the damn boar!" Nikolas turned to look at him and spoke with the fury of a god as flames appeared behind him, showcasing how angry he was!
"You mean, the one running towards you right now?" Stuart asked with a look of confusion on his face.
"What-" Before Nikolas could finish his words, he was suddenly hit on the back by something with such strength that he was thrown upwards by almost two meters! Before he could notice anything he was already riding an infuriated Flameboar! "You damn creature!" He shouted while trying to keep himself steady
"Ggkgk!" The Flameboar roared as its body shook madly trying to throw him away!
"Agh!" Nikolas grabbed the tusks of the boar making it grunt loudly and splash a fireball towards a tree just ahead!
However, the fireball was not enough to set the tree on fire.
Stuart could only look at the scene with his mouth open, trying to understand what was going on, but in the end, he just managed to laugh. "Pfft! Hahahaha!" He hugged his belly as tears fell from his eyes. "What the hell are you doing, Nikolas? Are you trying to find out if Flameboars are a good option for riding? Hahahaha!"
"Agh! Damn you, Stuart! Stop watching and help me already!" Nikolas cried as he desperately held the boar's tusks as if his life depended on that!
"Pfft! Alright, give me a second to recover, though!"
"Hurry up you bastard!"
Stuart laughed again, but this time he held the iron rusted sword with both hands as his face became serious. He squinted his eyes as he looked at the boar and the sword on his hand started shining with a light blue color.
He then ran towards the boar and when he approached enough he shouted. "Water slash!" The sword cut towards the boar making it cry in a pitched sound as it stopped, allowing Nikolas to jump out of the Boar's back.
Blood dripped from the cut on the right side of the boar, but that wouldn't be enough.
Nikolas himself was quite shaken by the experience, he remembered fighting against those things on the game, but now his body hurt for real and there was nothing such as game assistance to cover up for his loss of stamina, and health points!
This was different, his life was truly in danger here, it wasn't a game anymore!
The boar turned to look at them, it snorted making fire leave its nostrils. Then it pointed its tusks towards them and started running at high speed!
Seeing this both of them jumped to the side avoiding the Boar who hit a large piece of rock a few meters behind them.
But the boar didn't give up and turned back to attack once again, this time, however, he focused on Stuart.
Seeing the boar approaching rapidly he didn't have enough time to jump out of the way and had to use the sword to block it. However, the boar's strength was much bigger than his, and it started pushing him until it pressed him against a tree.
Feeling the pain in his muscles, he clenched his teeth and shouted. "Nikolas, help me!"
Hearing this, Nikola shook his head and ran towards the boar, he started slashing at him with the sword but the damage was so little that it didn't even manage to attract the creature's attention!
"What are you doing!? Use your sword sacred art!" Stuart shouted.
Nikolas gulped and tried to focus on the memories he had about using the magic of this world. He felt his blood rushing as he imagined some sort of water energy flowing from his heart towards his hands that was them infused in the sword!
Seeing how the blade was shining with blue energy, he didn't waste any more time and pierced the boar in the head, making it fall dead on the ground.