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"Fantasy Story Online has been made using the latest Virtual Reality technology and promises an immersive, realistic, and completely refreshing new take on the VRMMORPG genre!"
"From storylines to NPC interactions, progression, and even customization, this game promises to make the biggest wishes of all Players come true."
"Not only can you customize your character's race, class, appearance, abilities, talents, weaknesses, and even their likes and dislikes and many other personality traits, but you can even create unique backgrounds for any character!"
"Every Player is assured to go through completely unique experiences. Each one has their own ways to progress both in personal growth and also in terms of societal and economic traits, which are a big part of Fantasy Story Online!"
"Interact with the rich and vast world of Genesis and its dozens of different Realms, visit Kingdoms straight out of fairytales, or conquer the deepest and most terrifying of dungeons for epic loot! Is there anything you can't do in this game?"
"Out now! Get your copy before it runs out!"
Paul watched the video game ad on his phone with eyes almost filled with obsession. He had been waiting for this game ever since it was announced over five years ago.
The development of the game has been incredibly slow, but it has brought updates every month and every year, and with the hundreds of millions of backers it got, the game has finally fulfilled all of its promises.
There were even many review channels that had already tried the game through Early Access, and there wasn't a single person who looked dissatisfied!
Everyone said the game was perfect.
Everyone said it was everything they could have ever asked for!
And everyone—absolutely everyone—was satisfied.
Some were already calling it the best video game in the entire world, with incredible potential for making money as well, as there was an easy way to trade items and money between players and a free market.
Paul could barely contain his excitement.
"Oh man, I can't wait to play it…"
As he was looking at his phone, he quickly noticed he was already walking inside the college building, his surroundings bustling with many young people around his age or a few years older, moving everywhere from place to place.
"Hah, but first, this…"
It wouldn't be an understatement to say that Paul was extremely nervous. Because of his social awkwardness, he had completely lost any opportunity to make friends or even get a girlfriend in his first year of college.
Barely making any interaction with other people, he was such a loner that he even did all the group tasks alone and got good grades anyway, which made his professors rather surprised. Although they also pitied him a bit,.
"This year, for sure…"
He gripped his fists tightly. The young man had grown slightly taller than the previous year; he had just reached nineteen years of age and was still growing a bit more.
However, his growth might also be thanks to all the working out he had been doing nonstop through the last six months; he started getting a healthier diet, a healthier lifestyle, and getting much more well-toned while trying to look as attractive and fresh as he could.
The reason? Well, it should be easy to guess.
No girls ever paid attention to him; no girls ever cared about him, and he blamed it all on his nerdy looks, which he had changed.
…Naturally, he seemed completely unaware that his greatest weakness wasn't his looks but his shy personality and silent demeanor, which most girls found boring.
No, even guys found him boring; he had made no friends; he tried, but he couldn't make any ever-lasting relationships with anybody!
At least back in high school, he had some friends, and he met with them to play some games and hang out from time to time.
But college was a completely different battleground than high school; in here, everyone acted much more mature, most students weren't childish, and they took everything very seriously.
Most would always assume you would be just as serious, well-behaved, and, above all, very talkative and social.
And such weaknesses were flaws that poor Paul carried to college.
A dry first year, but surely he'll make it the second...
Right?
"Hahh…"
He sighed; his self-esteem would have hit rock bottom if it wasn't because he was very excited about the new game coming out.
It was his form of escapism; he didn't really feel satisfied with his current self or his current life at all.
"I want friends…" he sighed to himself. "And a girlfriend…"
He was thinking these things; if he said them out loud, he would probably die of embarrassment.
As he walked upstairs and moved to his classroom, he turned off his phone and took off his headphones.
"Alright, let's do this-"
"Hey! Excuse me?"
However, the voice of someone reverberated behind him.
For a moment, he thought they were calling someone else; he had such low self-esteem that he never assumed people were trying to talk to him.
Yet, the person behind him even gently touched his shoulders.
"Hello? Excuse me?"
"Hm?"
When Paul moved his head to see the person calling him, he almost froze.
"A cute girl?!" he thought.
He almost had a heart attack, in fact.
She was utterly adorable and tomboyish, with short, glossy black hair, big blue eyes, pale white skin like porcelain, wearing a white blouse and a jacket, and tight blue jeans. She did not have much chest at all, but that wasn't something Paul cared for that much.
She was slightly on the thicker side though, so she wasn't really thin; her thighs were big, as were her hips; and her face was cute—very cute! Paul liked all these features; it had been a while since he had seen such a cute tomboy before, and they were often rare.
"She's totally my type; what the hell do I even say?!" Paul thought as he began to panic internally. "No wait, she's asking you something!"
"Y-Yes?" Paul asked.
Dammit! He stuttered!
"Ah, I was wondering if you knew where the classroom for programming was?" the "girl" asked.
Suddenly, Paul realized something: "her" voice was rather deeper than he had heard previously.
"Hey, dude. Are you there or not?" "she" teased him. "Hellooo~?"
"A-Ah… Yes, it's right here, actually…" Paul pointed at the classroom.
"Oh, nice. We're classmates, then? Nice to meet you! I'm Christopher; you can call me Chris though."
"Chris… topher?"
Wait, that's most definitely the name of a man!
"Name's Paul… Wait, you're Christopher like… guy name?"
Paul asked something utterly embarrassing and stupid.
"What? Yes? Duh, what else? I'm a guy? Born guy."
"Oh…"
Chris looked at Paul's green eyes and then smiled mockingly.
"Hah? Did you… Don't tell me, pfff…" he began laughing!
Paul felt frozen in time.
He was being utterly ridiculed and teased by this bratty boy!
"Did you think I was a girl?!" Chris couldn't contain his laughter, so he laughed out loud.
Dammit, even his laughter was cute, actually!
"S-Shit, sorry, I didn't mean to…" Paul muttered, panicking.
Chris gently patted his shoulders.
"It's fine, dude, whatever," Chris shrugged. "You sure got low standards for girls if you thought I was one somehow... Anyways, let's go in; we're getting late."
"Y-Yeah…"
Paul is having an existential crisis right now!
And above all…
Why was Chris so goddamn cute?!
Throughout Paul's entire life, he has always liked women!
He found them cute and attractive—their appearance, everything.
Like any straight man.
For the first time in history, perhaps...
He couldn't get a man out of his mind.
"W-Why is he so fucking cute though?" Paul thought to himself.
His heart only started beating faster when Chris sat right beside him and winked at him.
"Yo, let me sit next to you. We started off on the wrong foot today, but let's get along, Paul," he said politely.
"Eh? Y-Yeah…" Paul nodded, still spooked because Chris was just too cute.
Paul had a problem.
He always entered a slight panic whenever a really beautiful girl talked to him.
He froze!
Perhaps it was his fear of screwing things over or making them disgusted or something.
He sometimes simply couldn't speak a word.
It didn't happen all the time, but it usually always happened with his crushes.
And right now, Chris... well, triggered that.
"I just met him a minute ago! What the fuck is wrong with me?!" Paul thought again, closing his eyes and trying to calm himself down.
"Paul~ Hey Paul~" Chris began asking.
"Hm? Y-Yes?" Paul wondered.
"Do you have a pencil? I just forgot to bring one…" Chris sighed.
"Y-Yeah, here," Paul offered him one.
"Thank you~!" Chris made the cutest sound ever and took the pencil, quickly beginning to scribble stuff.
He wasn't even writing about what the teacher was talking about.
In fact, Paul was left dumbfounded when he saw that through the entire class, Chris was drawing...
Anime-like characters.
And his drawings were actually really good!
He recognized some instantly, such as Goku from Dragon Ball, Sakura from Sakura Card Captor, that one Sailor Moon protagonist, and even Detective Conan!
"He's a man of culture," Paul thought, nodding.
Chris instantly noticed he had been watching him draw for a while, smiling.
"What are you looking at, Paul? Are you bored?" he smiled cutely. "Hah? Don't tell me… You're a weeb~?"
A weeb!
Christopher called him a weeb?!
Paul was incredibly furious.
His internal basement dweller awakened.
Paul felt humiliated at being called such a name, as he associated it with all the cringy otakus he sees online all the time.
"I'm not a weeb!" Paul screamed. "You're the weeb!"
He screamed.
The whole class paused.
Most students looked at Paul while raising an eyebrow.
The boys, and the cute girls too.
The teacher also stopped what she was doing; she readjusted her glass and looked back at him.
"Is there something you need to say to the class?"
Paul froze.
And he could still hear him!
Chris was giggling like a mischievous little imp!
Paul was containing his anger and cooling himself down.
"…N-No, sorry."
"Okay."
The teacher nodded, and the class went back to normal.
But it would never be normal again for Paul.
First impressions were completely and utterly shattered!
The whole class would see him as a weirdo now because he just screamed in the middle of the class!
And it was all because of this damned imp!
"Hahaha, did you have to scream like that, dude? Did I awaken some bad memories~?" Chris giggled teasingly. "My bad, my bad. Let's get along~"
"Y-You…" Paul was almost about to erupt in anger.
But perhaps it was his inner social awkwardness because he didn't say a single thing anyway.
Chris smiled cutely again, looking back at him as he started paying attention to classes.
"He's cute~"
…
The classes of the day finally ended, and every student walked out.
Paul didn't even try making friends, and the worst part was that in the second class, he saw Chris getting along with a group of four cute girls.
He was so natural, too! Talking and making jokes, he made the girls laugh and like him instantly.
"I hate college…"
He slowly walked towards the college's door; he didn't want to have anything to do with this damned place for the rest of the day.
"Right, Fantasy Story Online should've arrived home already…" he smiled a bit. "I'll play it and maybe get a bit of respite…"
"Hey, Paul~!"
However, that demonic voice echoed from behind.
The gremlin!
The imp!
That little, incredibly cute goblin!
"Chris…" Paul looked back at him, freezing.
"Here, sorry, I almost kept it… Oh, I kind of took a few bites off it. I was bored and all," Chris gave Paul back his pencil.
Indeed, the pencil had tiny bite marks. Chris was the sort of person to get bored and bite the tip of the pencil.
"Eh?!"
Yet Paul didn't feel disgusted; he blushed.
"Why did you…? This is…" Paul, however, knew that getting secretly happy about it wouldn't do well for his own self-respect, so he complained anyway. "Just take it back with you…" he sighed.
"Shit, sorry, I mean," Chris sighed, giving him puppy eyes. "I'll get you a new pencil tomorrow, I swear!"
"Ah, forget it…" Paul walked away.
"Come on, at the very least, let me invite you to eat at the cafeteria. Want something to eat?" Chris wondered.
This was weird.
Why was this little imp just inviting him to eat whatever he wanted?
Was Chris actually a good person? Or was he planning to do something evil again?
Did he feel guilt, or was that impossible for little cute gremlins?
Paul considered his options, but he really couldn't reject him.
Why?
Well, he felt pissed off about his pencil and wanted some compensation.
And second, as much as he hated to admit it...
Chris was still cute, and somehow, deep down, he really wanted to...
Well, he wanted to know him better, for some reason.
"Why am I getting so happy about this?" he thought. "He's a dude!"
"Hello? Someone there~?" Chris giggled as he looked at Paul, who was spacing out.
"Ah, yes, sure…" Paul nodded. "Sorry, I was just… err, thinking."
"You sure think a lot, dude; sometimes you just need to take it easy, you know~?" Chris smiled cutely, showing his perfectly white, arranged teeth.
"Says the guy who didn't pay attention to class and just spent the whole day drawing…" Paul looked at Chris with squinted eyes.
"Hahaha… A-About that, did you write it down?" Chris asked.
"Hah?" Paul raised an eyebrow.
"I mean, what the teacher wrote... Can you let me copy it?" Chris asked with an angelic face.
"I knew it!" Paul thought.
Yes, indeed!
Chris did all of this so Paul could just let him copy everything he wrote!
Unbelievable, just when he thought Chris was redeemable...
Yet he found himself nodding and giving him the book anyway.
Why? He didn't know!
Maybe, deep down, he just couldn't resist that cute face, that harmonic voice, those adorable eyes, and that mischievous, playful smile.
"Ugh, it can't be helped, I guess…" Paul sighed. "Here
"Oh my gosh, you're such a nice friend!" Chris gasped, taking the book. "Thank you, Paul! Anyway, what do you want? It's on me!"
"Err, I guess a sandwich and some cold tea…" Paul said. "And chocolate too."
"Aight~"
And Chris went and bought him everything he asked for without asking for any money.
"He really bought me everything without even blinking…" Paul thought, looking at the food. "Is he rich or something that money's not a thing for him?"
"Enjoy~ I'm going to copy the book, thanks," Chris quickly started scribbling.
As Paul ate and looked at him for several minutes, Chris noticed.
"You've been looking at me for a while…" Chris looked back. "Do I have something in my hair or face?"
"Ah! N-no…" Paul quickly looked somewhere else.
"Haha…" Chris giggled again. "You're weird…"
"W-Weird?! I'm not; I just... I have a hard time... talking," Paul sighed.
"I would have never guessed that from afar, you looked like a confident stud," Chris giggled.
"S-Stud?" Paul wondered.
"Yeah, I mean, you're pretty handsome; haven't you looked yourself in the mirror or something? The girls I talked with said you were cute but weird," laughed Chris. "I tried to tell them that you were fine, but they insisted that you weren't enough... Sorry."
"Eh?!" Paul felt awkward and embarrassed!
First, Chris called him cute and handsome.
Second, he said he had to convince the girls he wasn't lame.
And third, he apologized that he couldn't do it.
"T-This is too much for my heart…" Paul sighed again. "Thanks, Chris; it's fine, really... Nobody ever said I was cute and handsome..."
"Hahah! I bet you're disgusted a guy told you that first, my bad~" Chris shrugged, continuing his scribble.
"I'm not really disgusted, though…" Paul said. "Thanks anyways."
"Oh?" Chris smiled. "You seem oddly happy about it, heh~"
"Cut it out…" Paul sighed.
They continued talking nonsense for a while before Chris finished writing and Paul finished his meal.
"Thanks again, Paul! See you tomorrow, then?" Chris gave him back his book, and his cute hand managed to touch his own. Paul froze in embarrassment again. "Hm? Paul?"
"Y-Yeah, sure… Okay," Paul nodded. "See you tomorrow, Chris, thanks."
"Why are you thanking me?" laughed Chris. "You're so weird, lol."
Chris laughed as he walked away.
"This damn gremlin..."
…
Once Paul made his way back home, his mother called him.
"Honey, something came from the email today~ Is it yours?"
"Y-Yes, it is, mom!"
Paul ran towards the package, cleanly closed. He hastily opened it, as a game was awaiting him inside: Fantasy Story Online!
"It's here! Fuck yeah!"
Paul ran back to his room, feeling like a child again.
"Paul? Are you not going to eat lunch today?"
His mother called again.
"I ate outside; a friend invited me!"
"A friend? So nice! You finally made one? I'm so happy for you, honey!"
"Y-Yeah…" Paul muttered. "I guess I can consider him a friend. Maybe?"
More like a little gremlin than a friend!
Paul quickly placed the game's disk inside the VR capsule; it wasn't the latest model, but it was just fine; it had a nice assimilation rate of 75%, which was more than enough for him.
Anything higher than that, and they start costing over the tens of thousands of dollars, which he, as a student who only took part-time jobs at McDonalds from time to time, could never spend around leisurely.
"Hah… Let's do this."
After taking a quick and warm bath and forgetting about everything, Paul dove into the game.
He logged in using his player interface for all video games, then quickly selected the game icon saying, "Fantasy Story Online," which showed several characters, and dove inside the game.
FLASH!
His mind and senses were immediately absorbed into the game, as he found himself floating in the middle of a completely dark space.
Completely stark naked at that!
"Uwah! W-What the hell? What kind of starting screen is this?"
Ding!
[Welcome to the Character Creation Interface of Fantasy Story Online!]
[I am your personal assistant AI for the day; you can call me Clide!]
Holographic windows appeared, showing letters.
"Hello, Clide…"
[Hi Paul! So, what character do you have in mind? This game offers a myriad of classes, races, and many other customization features! Please, take your time and choose whatever you want.]
"Whatever I want, huh?"
The possibilities were truly endless.
Paul didn't know what to even choose.
He had not really any character in mind, and he had not investigated any metagame either.
He didn't know what was optimal or the best either.
And there were hundreds of options.
He would end up taking hours to make a perfect character, and he just wanted to dive in and play the game.
[If you want to, there's a random customization feature where you'll be given a random customization and the system will randomly create a background, character appearance, race, class, and progression type for your character!]
[Oh, and of course, to compensate that the character won't be like you want, you'll get a special Compensation Gift too! And your character background has the chance to be something that's not even available in the options!]
[Maybe you could even be given an important title in the world of Genesis!]
"I guess I'll go with that then; I can't decide…"
[Very well!]
[Initializing Character Randomization…]
[Choosing Class…]
[Choosing Race…]
[Choosing Background…]
[Choosing Skills…]
[Choosing Talent…]
[Choosing Flaw…]
[…]
The windows kept popping up and disappearing, surrounding Paul completely.
And before he could even make some sense of it, a bright light engulfed him completely.
FLASH!
Paul felt strange; it was as if he were being grabbed by giant hands that molded his incorporeal form, and then they hastily placed him somewhere, almost forcing him into a new physical body.
He felt utterly horrible as they did this to him! Just what kind of weird game was this?
"Aaaaggh! Stop it already; it's disgusting!"
Paul screamed as he finally opened his eyes, gasping for air.
"Huh?"
Yet when he looked around his surroundings, he froze once more.
He was inside a very old, dark, and dusty wooden room.
Some sort of old, dusty bedroom.
He was resting on the bed, wearing white and black pajamas.
"What? Huh?"
He looked at his own hands; they were thin and pale white, with long black nails resembling sharp claws.
Paul also felt some weird things inside his mouth; he touched them to find out they were his really long and big canine fangs.
He touched his hair. It was long and of a silvery-white color, glistening brightly beneath the moonlight reflected on the bedroom's dusty window.
He saw a mirror and ran towards it.
"What?!"
He gasped, looking at his tall yet extremely handsome figure.
Long silvery-white hair, sharp red eyes, and a long, handsome, and manly face, mixed with some delicate aspects.
He possessed the majesty, beauty, and charm of a Vampire!
And he was one.
"I'm really… a vampire? That race didn't appear in the customization…" he said. "The closest thing was blood elves…"
Ding!
[Congratulations, Player! You've been assigned a {Legendary-Grade Background} for your character!]
[Your Player name has changed to [Vlad Von Sange VII]. You are the Seventh Prince of the Sange Vampire Family, which governs the Realm of Obscuritas' Second Largest Empire, the Empire of Iron Blood!]
[You were born as a sickly, weak child, not inheriting fully the bloodline of your family; you were born as a Dhampir, a half-vampire, segregated with your mother and your little sister into a house far away from your family's main territory.]
[You now live in struggles, dealing with your various illnesses while trying to survive yet another day. Your butlers bully you and your sister, and your mother hasn't walked out of her room for the last two weeks; you can recall hearing her crying every night.]
[To make things more complicated, your sister was born as a Dhampir as well, and even more, her mentality never developed properly, and she often becomes too obsessed with things, as if she were always in her own little world.]
[You're a compassionate young man and want a better life for your mother and your sister, but there's nothing you can do as a weakling who can't even walk out of his bedroom without assistance.]
[Soon enough, your illness, which has been worsening over time, will take away your life. And once you die, this character will be deleted, and you will be forced to create a new one after 6 months of cooldown.]
"I can't revive?!" Paul gasped. "I thought everyone could revive?!"
[As part of your Legendary Level Background, certain Flaws and Restrictions have been given, such as the inability to revive.]
"No way…"
Paul felt like shit right now!
This was the worst possible background he could have ever imagined.
His luck today was sure to be terrible.
"Should I give up and log out?"
He didn't even try looking at his status; he knew it would be sh*t.
Was there anything he could even do now?
Ding!
[As compensation for choosing a Randomized Background of Legendary Grade, the hardest difficulty in a background, you've received a Super Compensation Gacha Ticket!]
POOF!
A golden ticket appeared in Paul's hands.
[Use it to pull the Gacha for a Privilege Compensation, it can be anything, from items to skills to even an additional background setting!]
"Okay, sure, whatever, use this!"
Paul had no time to hesitate; the golden ticket glowed brightly, quickly becoming light.
The golden light then became a roulette, and he pulled it as hard as he could with his sickly, weak arms.
FLASH!
The roulette spun around rapidly, and the arrow-targeting skills or items made Paul agonize.
"Come on, come on, some legendary weapon, or an OP skill, seriously, anything!"
Yet once more, the arrow reached the worst possible option.
"N-No way! Again?!"
It was an additional background!
Ding!
[Congratulations! You've received a Legendary-Grade Additional Background for your character!]
[The background is randomized, and it has already been decided.]
"No, wait, wait! I don't want something even worse, please!"
Paul was already begging the game to stop tormenting him! Can someone please end the suffering of this young man?
FLASH!
A sphere of golden light hit his chest, a new background was created, and his existence as a whole seemed to suddenly elevate.
Visions.
He saw countless images as if he had lived another life as someone else before becoming Vlad Von Sange!
"T-This is…?!"
[Congratulations, Player Vlad Von Sangre! You've been assigned a {Legendary-Grade Background} for your Character!]
[Your new Background is called {The Heavenly Demon Reincarnates}!]
[You're the Heavenly Demon that once tormented the Realm of Murim, becoming unparalleled between Heaven and Earth!]
However, as you were about to ascend and achieve True Immortality, you were fatally struck by the lightning of the Heavenly Will!]
[As you died pitifully, unable to reach your goal, you laughed; you had already ruined the Heavenly Court and stolen their greatest treasure.]
[And with your death, their greatest asset was also destroyed.]
[Yet!]
[You've been suddenly reincarnated as a sickly Vampire Prince, and as the prideful Heavenly Demon, you simply cannot accept this fate!]
[You've decided to utilize your Martial Arts and Cultivation Techniques to clean your body of impurities, become stronger, and regain the pride of your family, protecting your sister and your mother in the process.]
"N-No way, is this actually a good one this time?" Paul wondered.
[And that is not all! As you are about to meditate, you find something inside of your very soul.]
[A golden sphere!]
["Is this…? My Inner Realm? No, it is but a fragment; it survived?!"]
[And inside the golden bubble within your soul, you saw it.]
A gigantic golden palace, whose interior was full of books, scrolls, and materials.
"Wait, is this….?"
Paul gasped.
[Indeed! The greatest Treasure of the Heavenly Court of Murim, the {Heavenly Treasury} is now in your possession!]
[Thousands of Martial Arts Scrolls, Cultivation Technique Books, Materials, and other Treasures, are all within your grasp.]
[Use them to regain your freedom, become stronger, and forge a new path as a Heavenly Demon!]
[And maybe finally get yourself a male bride!]
"What?"
[The Heavenly Demon is gay.]
[Hidden Requirement: To retain your sanity and not go mad from all the suffering the Heavenly Demon has gone through, you must find a male bride to fulfill his wish of being happy!]
[Hidden Requirement Timing: 365 Days.]
[If you don't fulfill the Hidden Requirement in time, you will lose your Sanity and the control of your Player Character.]
"Ah…"
Paul slowly fell to his knees.
"WHY IS THIS GAME SO FUCKING SHITTY?!"
He had completely lost it!
The door opened after he made such a huge fuss as three butlers walked in.
"Young Master, what is the big fuss about?"
"Weren't you in the bed? You mustn't walk out of it!"
"Come on, you should drink your medicine again, perhaps."
The butlers smiled deviously as they approached Paul.
The furious gamer directed his rage against them.
"Don't take another step, you filthy mongrels!" he roared. It was actually a Heavenly Demon skill activating.
His face was full of anger. "To think your misshapen faces would sully my vision a second time! Do you have any decency to bring your utterly disgusting presence before me, the great Heavenly Demon?!"
"Huh?"
The three butlers were left completely baffled.
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