Games, in order to keep people playing, naturally start simple with the first level; those that place boss-level enemies in Newbie Village simply don't exist in this world.
The man in the trench coat controlled the red little airplane, and in his eyes, the big red bird he manipulated on the screen, its enemies were pretty much like it but in gray.
This big red bird would emit a strange beam of light, vertical, like a stick, that would explode the other gray birds upon contact...
The composition of that beam seemed to be some sort of explosive; however, the man in the trench coat only pondered this briefly before quickly discarding the thought, as it was unimportant to him.
The little red plane moved around on the screen, up, down, left and right, and under his control, the gray birds in front continued to fall.
Those flying objects also fought back, but their short-range beams couldn't hit his craft, leading to their continuous destruction; as the victory music played, a smug look appeared on his face without him realizing.
Of course, aside from the flying enemies in the sky, there were also some moving targets on the ground, which were even clunkier, attacking from bizarre positions and angles, but how could such clumsy attacks hit him?
Slow, way too slow.
Thus, as he played, a sense of satisfaction and pride gradually rose within him. He even began to hum a tune along with the music of passing the first level, and his mood started to improve.
But the second level was somewhat different from the first, and the man in the trench coat, who had started playing casually, now had to concentrate fully on his movements.
Meanwhile, with the passing of the second level and the beginning of the third... the numbers of the levels kept increasing, and the difficulty skyrocketed.
Finally, the music of defeat played!
At the same time, a not-so-loud, even somewhat fuzzy noise came from the machine, loud enough for even the spectators behind to hear:
"Game Over!"
With the defeat music and this mechanical declaration came the same few English letters, completely different from the characters of this world, but even to the bespectacled observer, it was clear these letters meant "failure."
Those brightly red characters, like blood, were starkly displayed, as if "slapped" on the screen, with the loudest volume and utmost mockery. Yet to the machine, this was just a "notification."
It was the man's first defeat. He stared at the screen for a while until he was brought back to reality by the impatient voices urging him to give up his spot. That's when he realized what had happened.
Before he knew it, a large crowd had gathered behind him, with all sorts of races present, their gazes fixed on the screen of defeat, cruelly mocking him and haughtily criticizing his gameplay.
They said he played terribly.
Though it was also their first encounter with such a "thing," it didn't stop them from making snide remarks from behind and engaging in armchair gaming.
This immediately sent the man into a rage! A fierce anger almost burst forth from his chest!
Those "Game Over" characters weren't just announcing his game defeat; they were telling him his life was full of failures. All his good moods had turned to nothing, making it clear to him—although you may fail in real life, don't be afraid!
You can also fail at games!
"Click!"
Game Coins were inserted, and facing the voices rushing him to leave, the man declared confidently,
"It'll be your turn after I run out of Game Coins. It's not my fault you arrived too late!"
After he spoke those words, he felt as if he'd vented his anger, and his mood instantly improved.
What use was their backseat gaming?
While the machine was with him, he would not let them play!
This level wasn't easy, and after dying a few times and amid the rising jeers around him, the man finally figured out how to pass the level.
New victory music played, and a new level appeared.
"This... What is this!"
The man's eyes widened as the aircraft he controlled, having consumed something unknown, suddenly changed from shooting two beams to six beams. In addition to the two fixed beams in the middle, the other four were firing simultaneously toward the front left and right.
"Wow! Isn't this invincible?"
Someone from behind exclaimed in surprise, the aircraft was enhanced?
Doesn't this mean a straight pass through the next levels?
"How many levels is this?"
"Don't know."
"Wait, look, what's that?"
It was then someone turned their gaze back to the screen, noticing something new and different.
Indeed, the player-controlled aircraft had gained the ability to shoot in all directions, but the enemy firepower had also changed. As the scene shifted, it clearly told the players they were experiencing a narrative, and the enemy's beams and light dots began to move erratically across the screen.
Soon, with the sudden appearance of a multitude of enemy aircraft and enemy turrets, those random light dots covered the entire screen, with the player's controlled aircraft struggling to survive amongst the barrage.
But in the end, it was hit.
The flying objects exploded, and the bizarre music signaling mission failure rang out once again, somewhat comical as if it were mocking the player for being a fool.
"Game Over!"
The man's eyes reddened.
"It gets harder the further you go, and the enemies can attack from such angles?"
"The whole map is filled with dots, how is anyone supposed to get past this!"
The man scratched his head while the onlookers behind him began to jeer:
"No good, let me try! I can beat this level! Really."
"I can do it too, frankly speaking, I'm a very skilled hunter; these attack patterns and evasive maneuvers are a piece of cake for us hunters."
"Give you a silver coin, get off now!"
The man swallowed hard, but the desire for the game that had taken root in his heart, along with that strange melody that seemed to laugh at him, led him to remain silent and restart.
However, this level was practically impossible towards the end, with the dense flying objects and the haphazardly darting light points of the attacks overwhelming him.
When he had finally beaten the level after immense effort and the victory tune played, an indescribable emotional high suddenly surged within him.
Despite all the torment, he had acquired something unprecedented.
Joy!
It was joy!
Pain! It was so painful! But amidst the pain, there was also immense joy!
Perhaps this was the true meaning of "thrilling!"
"I can't believe it, I've been tortured by this thing the whole time, but I'm still playing."
It had been a full five hours, and the man in the trench coat had no idea how he had gotten through it.
During these five hours, he had been playing this small airplane game called Raiden!
Add Game Coins.
Keep adding.
Your money hasn't disappeared; it's just transformed into happiness that continues to accompany you.
"Time's up, insert more Game Coins! Eh... where's my money..."
The man in the trench coat reached into his pocket and discovered that his coins had run out, and as for Gold Coins, they couldn't be inserted into the machine.
And in that moment, the man gradually came back to his senses from his previous state of confusion.
"That's enough, get off! How long have you been playing! Don't you have any sense of time? Don't you have a job?" someone nearby shouted, urging the man to get off the machine. In fact, they had been impatient for a while now, and their noisy voices attracted the attention of the patrons in the tavern.
What's going on here?
It didn't look like trouble.
Miss Malt was among the crowd of onlookers, her mind still buzzing with the echo of the Deity's words that had yet to fade.
She had watched all of the actions of the man in the trench coat, and this new game... or rather, the new game mode, had caused Miss Malt's eyes to light up.
"It's already the early morning hours, security, can't you get him out of here!"
A Black Iron Dwarf was fuming, his eyes bulging like brass bells, his beard fluttering as if on fire, in an impatient rush, almost becoming an urgent King, he yelled at the man in the trench coat:
"What you're playing is crap! I bet the Mutated Eight-Winged Chicken from Dungeon City could play better than you just by jumping around on this metal box! You've died so many times! If you can't play, stop playing."
There were onlookers itching to try, who had already noticed the man had run out of coins to continue playing, so they smugly pulled out a variety of coins from their pockets or behind their ears – all coins, except Gold Coins, could be inserted into the slot to exchange for Game Coins.
"Wait! I still have money! One last round!"
The trench coat guy fumbled around and finally pulled out another silver coin, but upon seeing that group of various species, and especially the dog-headed Person with a mouth full of sharp teeth and the muscly Black Dwarf, he quickly adjusted his mindset and then proclaimed to the onlookers with a sorrowful tone:
"I have to confess, my life ended yesterday, and I'm about to die."
"My last wish is to play this one last round."
When he said this,
Everyone went silent, even the dog-headed Person showed an "aren't you overdoing it?" expression.
However, only the Black Iron Dwarf didn't seem to buy it; he stepped forward and spoke in the elegant universal language:
"Bullshit!"
"You were so excited just a moment ago; you didn't look like someone who's about to die at all!"