— Nexus World Online.
A well-known Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, or VRMMORPG, that could accommodate tens of thousands of players simultaneously.
It wasn't just a game in this world.
Rather, it was a game seen as a window into another reality.
A game that offered such a high degree of realism that it was difficult to tell it apart from reality.
It gave players a tremendous amount of freedom, and featured in-game characters that were unique and had their own backgrounds, plots, and unique appearances.
Every single NPC had a unique backstory, and the path you took through the game depended on your circumstances and where you stood in relation to your character in the world.
A virtual reality game that had never fallen from the top since its release.
〖 Monsters and strange creatures appear all over the world... Netizens are helping the government by providing the information... "The is certain." A lot of controversy 〗
In this reality, the monsters of Nexus World appeared.
〖 A new race appears. Defeat the monster with your bare hands... 〗
Being able to hunt monsters like that in reality, people who awakened the abilities of Nexus World's characters also appeared.
〖 Player: Metal Raze versus the named monster, General Magma: The monster is defeated! 〗
'Years have passed since the cataclysm.'
Nexus World became a reality.
〖 Approximately $5 million in compensation was provided by the U.S. government for clearing the Dungeon Cracks in San Francisco.〗
〖 Close interview: The player who prevented the catastrophe, 'Satish Joshi', from India 〗
But that was it.
I didn't even need Adrian's memories to understand this world, as I created it myself for my novel.
Incorporating many novel ideas—many of which had never been seen or heard of before—I built this world from scratch.
However, if I had known it would be like this, I would not have created such a terrible character, and I would have created some exploitable holes.
But like I had always said,
"No use crying over spilled milk."
There was nothing to regret about the past that couldn't be changed.
In this world, every awakened human was called a player.
The data of players' in-game characters was what people were awakening to.
Which sometimes changed their appearance and behavior according to elements of a character's back story.
Even those who had not played the game were being awakened with background information about random characters from the Nexus world.
There was even an interview in Adrian's memory about such things that he watched not long ago.
〖The biggest change after awakening is that... it feels like you are assimilating with the character?〗
〖Really, it feels like the real me and the character in the game have merged into one. Should I call it a binge?… But there's nothing to worry about because, even in possession, it was me who was in charge of every action. The possession merely changed my personality and perspective a little.〗
〖Still, thanks to it, I was not scared even when I saw real monsters. And the awakening process was miraculous. I could feel myself getting stronger.〗
After awakening, it takes about a week for the game character's data to fully merge with the body of a person. This is a slow and gradual process.
Fortunately, Adrian had already awoken a week prior, and yesterday, just before I took possession of this body, Adrian's in-game character, who went by the name of [Axel Von Goldline Vaiself] in Nexus World, also successfully assimilated with this body.
Which was helping me maintain my composure even in this messed up situation.
It was because [Axel Von Goldline Vaiself] was the sole heir of the great Vaiself family in the Nexus world and was used to handling hardships.
'Who would have known that there was a real, hidden, great family of the same name as Vaiself in Nexus World?'
At that time, I came up with this scenario to showcase how Adrian, because of his foolish behavior, was given this character.
Unfortunately, though, Axel's lack of talent made him bored, so he gave up on the game.
Even so, Axel of the Nexus World was taught to fight and stay calm in any situation, even though he was not a very talented person.
Which was going to be incredibly helpful to me in a lot of ways because otherwise I'd have to start from scratch with everything.
And thankfully, Adrian's family in this world has already registered Adrian's appearance, which was the first change after his awakening, so I didn't have to go through another verification.
However, they were still unaware of this body's true capabilities because, at that time, he hadn't fully assimilated into the character.
So now I could trick them into thinking that I had awakened into a strong character.
Otherwise, my life would definitely be filled with hardship, and even the family's support would be cut off.
Which was the last thing I wanted, because being a billionaire's son was a free pass to most things I had to do.
"At least these simple things seemed to be working in my favor."
* * * * * *
In this world, every player had a unique system.
Which was similar to a character's gaming screen that only they could view and access.
The System screen showed the user's information, including their current level, skills, experience points needed for the next level up or skill rank up, as well as information about their personal stats and the free stats they received after leveling up, etc.
That was why, after looking at these notifications that suddenly popped up, I wasn't scared at all.
Even the surprise element was countered because of the composure of Axel's character and because I already knew about System's existence.
However, what I was witnessing was undoubtedly unusual.
[Swallowing the basic built-in system…]
[Swallowing completed]
[Villain Simulator Activated]
Phew~!
As I exhaled the last puff of thick, white smoke from the cigarette, which was about to burn the filter, I kept looking at the notifications that kept popping up in front of my eyes.
Strangely, they weren't affecting my vision.
They appeared to be there, yet I could simultaneously see what was in front of me and them.
Nevertheless, my focus was on the notifications that were popping up in my vision and not what was in front of me.
"What's a Villain Simulator?"
No such thing as a Villain Simulator existed in the book I wrote, and I had no intention of ever creating anything with that name.
In fact, based on the present situation, this simulator has swallowed the basic system that my body had after awakening.
There were multiple questions roaming around in my head.
Thankfully, it appeared as though the simulator had heard my worries because this time, a new message appeared on the translucent blue screen while a mechanical female voice rang in my head, as if reading the same message.
[Welcome! author of this world.]
The sudden voice in my head startled me, but I kept a straight face and looked around.
After not seeing anyone nearby except the sleeping beauty with a frown on her face, I concentrated on the message that appeared in front of me and spoke as if making a declaration.
"Who are you? Are you the one responsible for my current state."
[Correct!]
[Back to host: The system is called Villain Simulator.]
The mechanical voice in my head spoke again.
'Is this a game of some kind? You abducted me and put me in this messed up situation. And now you're playing introductions like a lady, you b*stard.'
Despite the fact that my mind was raging at that female mechanical voice, which was most likely something preprogrammed, I managed to maintain my composure, and as soon as my mouth opened, I spoke in a sophisticated, knowledgeable, and self-assured manner.
"You're created by『Darkness』"
[Congratulations! The host is indeed correct.]
[The system is created by Darkness.]
'I knew it, but who are you? Why did you do this to me? What do you want? I want to go back. Send me back, you b*stard!'
While these were the questions I had in mind, the words that actually came out of my mouth were something totally different.
"What's going on here? I want to know in detail."
[As per the orders of the Creator, all the information is being sent directly to the host's brain.]
[Does the host allow the direct transmission of information?]
"...Allow." After thinking for a second, I decided to agree.
Anyway, I wasn't in a position to argue with this thing, and since someone can directly send me into this world, I can just hope that it won't do anything to me during a memory transfer.
[Information transferred successfully.]
Surprisingly, there was no pain or dizziness like those novels made it sound like there would be, and a massive amount of information was suddenly transferred into my brain as if it had been there since the beginning.
Nevertheless, it took me about a minute to organize everything in my mind.
"WHAT!!!"
But as soon as my mind processed the information, my eyes became bloodshot, and my legs lost strength as I knelt down on the floor.