On Earth, there was a man in Japan who is playing an MMORPG game, in his shabby room that contained his bed, his PC, his equipment, and merch from all kinds of games.
It was snowy weather and the man had nothing to do, he continued playing on his PC.
His name is Art Thisera
"Is this really the best game?"
Art felt disappointed while playing the game, he expected to have fun.
"This is the 52nd game I have bought, nothing is good, all were trash. With some few exceptions but the rest were Pay to Win!"
In rage he slammed his keyboard and threw it to the ground, he dropped himself onto his bed and opened his phone. He entered a group chat with his friends and talked there for a while.
"Guys, y'all got any good MMORPG games to play? This boredom is killing me.."
One of his friends replied.
"Have you tried the other game I recommended?"
"Yeah, I beat it and there was a paywall to continue."
"Did you really spend that long? have you tried finding any other games?"
"You know, I already wasted 2 years finding a decent game to fill the void in my heart after finishing my job daily."
"There's this new game in beta testing right now, maybe you'll like it?"
"No, I did not. I applied for the Close Beta Testing and It was horrible, the mechanics were for children. Granted it is in testing, but they said that was the main mechanic of the game."
"Ehhh, I don't know then."
"Yeah."
"Alright, I'm leaving cya."
"Cya."
Art got up and picked up his keyboard on the ground and places it back near his PC, he turned off his PC and decided to head outside since he was feeling hungry.
In the bustling city that is full of people, enjoying the scenery and going into malls.
But Art forgot to bring his jacket, so he went outside in his casual clothing in the snowy weather.
"I already left... It's fine, probably."
He went inside a local convenient store and bought 2 carbonated drinks.
"Thank you for visiting, have a nice day!"
"You too.."
Art looks around the city, filled with lights and people.
"If only things were fun as it was before."
Art sighs and continues to walk to his home.
He browses through the internet in hopes of finding new games that he might enjoy, though to no avail.
Hours go by, no progress has been made. He went through forums in search of indie games that are being recommended, and he tried and bought all of them.
"This is just a waste of money."
Art looks outside his window and realizes it's already night time, the clock was already 9:39 PM.
"Maybe it's time to sleep, though no progress."
As Art slept, he dreamt of another world. A perfect paradise for the fantasy he dreams so long to play in. The perfect, ideal game that he wishes to play, where everything has no limits.
Dragons soared high above the clouds, brilliant fights that were not restricted, an eternally long adventure that will never stop unless you wanted to, a limitless adventure that was not bound by generation.
Art is on the grass field and sees the things happening around him, he could see himself in a knight in shining armor with a golden sword. Fighting against evil and monsters and fighting with other people.
In his dreams, chanted magic and played around. Flying above the clouds and looking from a bird's eye view, beautiful skies filled with the stars. Kingdoms below him and wars, it was the type of game he always craved for.
In the open field, Art notices a levitating cube, it had a metallic texture and appeared to be violet.
Since it was a dream, Art went ahead and got closer to the levitating cube, the surroundings of the cube felt like being at the lowest depth of an adult pool.
"This feels bizarre, this is definitely a lucid dream."
Art went closer to the cube, and a voice whispered into his ears.
"Come.. closer..."
As Art was about to touch the cube, in an instant Art was kicked out of his dream as his alarm clock was ringing.
Art looked at his clock.
"5:11 AM..."
Art woke up from his slumber, though the dream was cut short. He definitely enjoyed the fever dream, it relieved him in a way.
Art made his breakfast, took a shower, and prepared his things so he could go to work, he dressed
Art took the bus to work daily, he does not want to pay for the taxi to save money. While on the bus, he decided to play a gacha game for a while before dropping off the bus.
He enters a gate of the building that was guarded by security guards, they greeted each other.
"Morning, you up early again?"
"Yeah, I'm usually on night duty."
"By the way, was there any incident that happened here at the gate?"
"No, why do you ask?"
"There were reports of some dumbasses trying to start a scene here, be careful when approaching them."
The guard scratches his head and sighs "Okay, I understand."
Art enters the gate as the guard waves back at him.
"Good luck with your work!"
"Thanks."
In front of Art was a tall skyscraper, 3 skyscrapers that are connected by 3 bridges.
the building is extremely tall and is reflecting light violently.
"How annoying to walk."
He goes inside the door and is greeted by the male receptionist.
"Good morning sir, usual area?"
"Usual area, yes."
"Please give me your verification card."
Art hands out his verification card to the receptionist, the receptionist confirms the identity of Art and allowed him to go take an elevator.
Art reaches floor 78, the elevator door opens and reveals a hall made out of wires and black iron, at the end of the hall lies a wide black door that has cyan rods of light around the door, a long password lock system in Infront of the door.
Art placed his hand on the lock system.
"DNA Confirmed, Art Thisera Age 23 Rank-3"
The lock system started imputing data on the screen.
"For further verification and to ensure that you are not an imposter trying to access the confidential file."
The lock system turned into a voice verification password system.
"Please say your code."
"Rebirt... do I really have to say this cringy line?"
"Yes."
"Rebirth and find your goals in your heart.."
"Access Granted, person has been verified."
The lock system has turned off, and the door began to open.
"Head of the 'Last Resort' Department, we welcome you at 16Boxes Corporation."
As soon as Art stepped into the room, a can of carbonated beverage was thrown at his face, he immediately caught the can in his hand.
"Hey now, I don't think you're supposed to throw this type of thing in an area where there is a lot of electricity and gadgets no?"
A girl with silver long straight hair in an oversized pink hoodie and black shorts greeted Art while sitting in an office chair.
"Yeah, yeah not my problem~"
"It will be if I reduce your pay."
"Relax~ It was just a joke."
"What flavor is this?"
"It's your favorite, blueberry."
"At least you know something right about me."
"How could I not, you always drink that flavor at work every working day."
The girl rotates herself on her chair and faces the computer, she stretches her hands upwards.
"It sure is cozy here, quite the cool room."
"Yeah, it is, though I don't like being surrounded by wires and gadgets here."
"Can't help it, we need a lot of computing power for the test server."
"Hm."
"Hey Art, when will the beta test of 'Last Resort' will release? I mean, I am quite excited about this project."
Art shrugs his arms
"Probably soon, by the way, where are the others?"
"They will arrive later, they had something to do."
"I see."
Art walks around the room that was filled with gadgets and server computers. He notices an error in one of the servers.
"Hey, Ramiel."
"Yeah, boss?"
"I think Server #4 is corrupted."
Art touches the server computer, there was no light.
"Yeah, I'll fix that soon~"
"Alright, just make sure to properly fix it later."
"'Kay~"
"Ramiel where is the testing computer?"
Ramiel looks at Art with a grinning face
"Ehhh~ I don't know~"
Art goes closer to Ramiel and gives her a pat on the shoulder.
"Ramiel."
Art spoke with a serious tone.
"Y-yes Art?"
Art takes his hand in his pocket to reach for something.
"Tell me where is the testing computer."
"No~ I won't tell you wher-"
Art throws a bar of chocolate at her face, Ramiel was flustered and annoyed.
"Fiiiinnee, it's next to the system computers~"
Ramiel yawns and continues typing on the computer.
"Ramiel why do you even change the location of the testing computer?"
"You told us to change it every once in a while, you forgot?"
"Yeah, but I said every month, not every day!"
"Don't you value security?"
"I do,. but this is a bit too much. And aren't you tired of doing this? Considering it's quite heavy and troublesome to drag around?"
"As long as it works!"
"If you stop changing the location of the computer, I'll give you 2 chocolate bars."
Ramiel crosses her legs and her arms.
"Quite the good offer, but I'll pass."
"And a milkshake."
Ramiel suddenly stands up and looks at Art with glittering eyes.
"O-okay, I will consider."
"Just how desperate are you for sweets?"
"Not my fault, you know how tired we are?"
"But take them in moderation, you have been eating chocolates for the past month. You'll just get diabetes!"
"Eh~ Art is caring about me? shoocckkiing."
"Not really, it's for the sake of the company."
"Right, the company."
Art went ahead and used the testing computer while Ramiel returns back to her chair.
"Anyhow, did you guys use my story baseline?"
Art asks Ramiel.
"Yeah, we used your story baseline. The one you submitted really made the boss quite happy since he said 'This is amazing, we can use this storyline to end and create new worlds and it will make sense from a story standpoint'."
"Thanks."
Ramiel started spinning her chair again and pointed towards Art.
"What made you want to add that storyline?"
"I don't know, I guess I just like Fantasy stories no?"
"Fair enough."
Art enters the room which contained the testing computer.
"Have fun there." Ramiel waves to Art cheerfully.
In the room, there was just a single PC filled with wires from its back and CPU.
Art looks down and turns on the PC.
[Loading...]
"I wonder if I can slack off today..."
[Processing...}
Art sits in the chair which was facing the PC and just stared at the loading screen of the PC.
[Loading Complete]
[Welcome to Last Resort (Testing Realm#2)]
[By you entering the game, you have agreed to the condition of the Terms of Service. If broken otherwise, legal actions will be taken.]
[Sharing data with outsiders is strictly prohibited.]
"Hmm... the start-up screen needs some adjustments, but this is probably fine."
Art pressed the start button, which sent him to the actual game.
[Welcome back, Art.]
"Did they finally fix the UI bug on the status screen?"
Art entered in the chat 'Status'
[Art Thisera - Level: 9999]
[Titles: Administrator, New Player]
[STR: 0, DEF: 0, DEX: 0, MAG: 0, MANA: 0]
[Remaning Status Points: 29997]
[Passive Skills: Test_Holder(1), Test_Holder(2), Test_Holder(3), Mana Circulation (F+)]
[Active Skills: "Fix (Administrator)", Mana Release (F+), R.E.Q.U.I.E.M (Exclusive)]
[Special Skills: Test_Holder(1)]
"Why are most of these just "Test Holders", I really hope they fix it soon."
Art hovered his mouse toward the Active Skill section.
"They added a description for the skills? Good, that's progress."
Art clicked the name of the skills in hopes of reading the description.
[Test_Holder(1)]
[It's a test holder item, what do you expect?]
"I expected something better no?"
[Test_Holder(2)]
[Again, It's a test holder item, what do you expect?]
"I know this is a test realm, but this is annoying me..."
[Test_Holder(3)]
[Are you blind?]
"..."
Art took a deep sigh and browsed the others that had a name.
[Mana Circulation (F+)]
[Mana Circulation allows users to effectively store and use mana. Higher rank will expand its storage and lessen its usage amount.]
"Finally! an actual description."
Art kept typing on his keyboard hoping something might happen, but nothing.
"Okay, what about the others?"
["Fix (Adiminstator)"]
[Alerts an 'Administrator']
"Well, that's kind of useless."
[Mana Release (F+]
[Mana Release allows mana to be weaponized and manipulated.]
[R.E.Q.U.I.E.M (Exclusive)]
[Requested by Art Thisera, an Active Skill that makes all enemies within a 100 feet radius fall asleep. During 'Sleep' enemies will not take damage, enemies cannot be attacked and enemies cannot use abilities or items. Lasts for 100 seconds, and cannot be dispelled, resist, or nullified.]
[Ramiel: This took me soooo long to make, I don't know why you even wanted this. This is useless honestly~]
Art smiles at the exclusive skill, that Ramiel made for him.
"Maybe I should give her something, probably not sweets."
Art stopped inspecting his status screen and explored the area around his character.
"Pretty well made, I wonder if I can make one."
Art's character is surrounded by amazing buildings that looked so realistic and beautiful that real life could not compare, it was as if real life was in the game. While admiring the well-made buildings a monster appeared in front of the building.
A Level 2 green slime.