When I was eight years old, I received a mysterious email. I couldn't find the sender email address on internet. At first, I thought that email was a spam. The content is a promotion for their new game. It said I was chosen as one of the beta testers for their game. What was the name again? Oh, right…
This World Is Not a Game.
That was the tittle of the game.
Weird, right?
Anyway, I clicked that attachment.
W-what, what did I do wrong? Everyone loved playing video games! Of course, as a connoisseur of video game, I had to see it for myself whether that game is up to my standard or not. As a kid that I was, I didn't care about virus or other malware even though I was aware of them.
"Are you sure you want to become a beta tester? You can not back away from this decision once you agree to our terms and conditions. After this beta phase completed, your play time will be reset. You can receive any rewards you have gotten from this phase. Your level will be reset, but you can choose to carry over all skill you have gotten from this phase. You—"
I immediately pressed the "yes" button.
"STFU, Man. I'm here to play the game."
"Congratulations for your admission! You're beta tester number 69. We hope the best for you. This beta phase will last ten years of your time or until the final dungeon is cleared. God bless."
"Ten years for a beta test? I'll be playing waifu by then."
Ten years passed in an instant.
I was still playing that cursed game by then even though you could dive into a digital world with DR (digital reality) machine. I had to admit that I was not a well-behaved kid. I was bad, ten years later, I was good.
"Excuse you? This dragon is so useless…"
I was shouting at my smartphone inside the train home. By that time, my character had become so overpower that only seven others could be my opponents. Even then, I believe I would win any battle against them.
"Do it! Use your magic to weaken… damn useless! Do I need to do everything alone? I'm going to retire after this dungeon run. To hell with you all. Hero party my ass."
While I was raging at my useless party, that super boss was preparing his final magic. I didn't realize it back than because I was focusing on increasing my party efficiency. They have great power set, but they're so dumb. What power to use, positioning, role, and tactic; I needed to guide them every single time. NPC is an NPC after all. Nothing I could do about it. That game wasn't even a strategy game.
"Hey, that magic. Oh, no…"
I realized it too late.
He, that black gooey thing used his magic to envelopes every creation with darkness. A jet black darkness fell from above. It looked like an ocean of black paint. That jet black darkness was a corrupted data. Once hit, any data would be corrupted, sometimes beyond repair. One need a specific plugin to resist the corruption. Of course, I've installed that plugin to my character. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to even enter that final dungeon.
Having no choice left, I used
Bang!
I could hear a loud noise from inside the train. Nope, I'm no longer talking about my game character but the me in real life. No matter how much I love that game, that noise was just to loud to ignore. I looked outside the train window to see what happened. The sky is broken. Black gooey liquid was pouring from that crack like a fallen bucket of water. Everyone around me also looked at that phenomenon with great interest. They used their smartphone to make a video or to capture some pictures.
"What is that? Are they filming a movie or something?"
"This got to be alien doing."
"Bro, it looks like a black ooze."
"Ew, disgusting."
I could only stand in silent because I know what that stuff was. No, I didn't know what that stuff was because my answer was too unscientific. I even wished for that to never happened. Perhaps I was to tired from playing game for a long time and finally seeing stuff.
"Congratulations! Number 69 have unlocked a hidden condition to finish phase β. Everything will be transferred into reality. Please wait…"
"What the…"
That hologram-like words appeared in front of me.
I was definitely going crazy, if I wasn't already.
"Integration successful. Number 69, please eliminate the threat in front of you to advance to the next phase. Otherwise, this universe will be deleted."
"What?!"
"Bye…"
"No, don't leave me!"
Everyone in that train was looking at me like I'm a circus monkey or something. Most people immediately ignore me because the show outside the train was far more entertaining.
"Babe, do you think that black ni—"
Bang!
Just as he was about to said the super boss's name, his head was gone, impaled by a black rod formed from that black ooze. Not only him, I could see some woman was penetrated by that huge black rod. Man or woman or whatever, that black rod does not discriminate. That super boss was making something akin to a root.
"Ah!"
"Help me!"
"I don't want to die. I'm still a virgin!"
W-who said that just now?
Never mind that, I needed to fight this threat before me. I was not sure what will happen if I defeat this super boss. Inside the game, beating a super boss will result in many prizes, but only one is precious. That precious prize is a card. Not any card, but a plugin that let you integrate a super boss power into your own. I was not sure whether I will get his card in this reality. As the final super boss, I believed I will be invincible with that N card.
Never mind that, I would need to escape first.
"Right, I should be able to use my power here. Then…"
I raised my left hand and then points it to that black ooze.
"Exa Cannon!"
I shouted with all I got, but nothing happened.
"Number 69, Exa Cannon is to powerful for this reality. Its existence alone will rip this world apart. Are you sure you want to proceeds?"
"No, I don't think I will…"
I immediately changed my strategy.
"Giga Cannon…"
I only whispered this time because I realized how embarrassing that was.
Suddenly, from the world of pure data and information, my hand was transformed into a compact pink cannon with a lot of heart ornaments. Oh right, it had been a long time since I used Giga Cannon. I forgot to remove those cosmetic from valentine event. There was no time for that though. Once my small cannon finished forming, I released everything I have within myself!
"Giga Energy Ball…"
A cute pink energy ball was formed in front of my cannon. That energy ball moved towards that black ooze with an unprecedented speed. As I was not a math expert, I was not sure how fast that was, but it was definitely faster than light. How did I know of that? At that very moment, my vision changed into something game-like little by little.
Boom!
That pink ball collided with that black ooze. My big ball managed to overpower that black ooze, making a huge pink explosion. That pink energy was still going after the source of that black ooze, climbing towards the reality crack on the sky.
Bam!
Before that pink energy could enter, that crack was closed immediately, leaving nothing behind as if there was never a space crack in the first place. Every black ooze around me also gone, but the damage cannot be undone. Many people were dead, but I didn't feel pity nor regret. I was probably an emotionless monster since birth.
"Congratulations to Number 69 for clearing the secret condition! All primary function should be available by now. Secondary and tertiary function will follow later. We will be moving to α phase immediately."
Suddenly, I was in my kid selves ten years ago, after pressing that agree button. The difference was there was no game. My smartphone screen was black, reflecting my handsome face. Also, my vision showed level, HP, MP, plugin, and many others. I could even see pure data and information around me.
I was not surprised anymore.
This stuff happened to main protagonist after all.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
My smartphone ringed.
"System, is that you?"
"Who the hell is system? Lil Bro, where are you right now? Where is my ice cream? I can't practice magic without my ice cream! Hurry and go home!"
"Practice what?"
"Magic! M-A-G-I-C! Now hurry up and bring me my ice cream! Don't tell me that you're going around the neighborhood doing that cringe pose? Anyway, you should go home quick before Mom know I let you play outside at night."
"Ah, so that what it is about."
"…"
Beep! Beep! Beep!
My smartphone went silent.
At that moment I knew—
This world is not a game.
Ten years later—