"Life's so boring... just thinking about it gives me a headache."
My name is Lee Kennedy, I come from Arkansas but I moved to Washington, spending my life in Spokane.
I'm currently 18, this is my last year before I graduate and get thrown out into the real world.
Yep, the crazy, crappy, real world.
Working 9 to 5 jobs for the rest of my life until I die, and no one will miss me.
That's pretty much how I summarized my entire future.
I have no cravings for things such as creating my own family or finding a girlfriend.
I love to spend time, by myself.
I love staying in my room, by myself!
To eat, by myself!
To watch anime, by myself!
I'm 100% introverted... man... I really do have a shitty life.
"What's the point of it all? It feels meaningless."
I was walking home from school, doing my usual rants whenever the day was depressing or bland.
Do you ever notice how school sucks the energy from your body? Yeah, that's because it does! The entire school system is shitty to me. I can pull up YouTube and watch videos on my phone and learn more from that than I ever would from school.
If you wanna have students get invested with the subjects you teach, at least approach them in an entertaining way, rather than chalk and chalkboard.
"...May as well jump back into Isekai World Online and see what's going down. I've been grounded an entire week, so I probably missed a lot of my login bonuses."
Yeah, grounded from my report card.
I nearly had straight F's in all of my classes because of my lack of care for school. But can you blame me? Half the stuff they teach us, we'll just forget in the future. At least teach me about stuff that'll make me successful or rich in life.
"Yo, Lee!"
I could hear a voice from behind me; it was my friend, Johan.
"Oh, Johan, hey."
"What's up, man? You just walked off without saying anything. We usually stay after school and talk to -you know who-!"
"Are you talking about those two girls?"
"Dude, you forgot their names already? It's been a few months now, you should at least remember."
"Listen, I know you're trying to help me get a girlfriend, but I'm not interested in anyone right now. It's unnecessary stress, and getting my heart broken is the last thing I want on my list of worries."
"You gotta live a little bro, you can't grow up without experience, that's what my pops told me at least! Ahahaha!"
"...You're far too open-minded man."
"Isn't that a good thing, Lee?"
"—Uh yeah, I guess it is, but... it's whatever, I'm good."
"Hey, let's give it a try, tomorrow. After that, me and you can approach Sarah and Rachel to form a conversation with one another. But this time, make sure you talk. Each time we visit them, you always stay silent and say half-assed words to their questions."
"...This is peer pressure man..."
"C'mon, Lee, don't try to be so sensitive about it. Think of this as a way of growing your character!"
"The only character I need to grow is the one in Isekai World Online."
"For once, let's not talk about that game. Me and you need a realistic talk, regarding real life. Games are just a way to escape from reality, but you can't do that forever."
"...You are such a... whatever that word is called."
I don't know the word I'm trying to say, but it would fit someone like Johan!
"Hey, no reason to start calling me names, I care for you, bro. I'm just trying to get you prepared for the real world."
"You're acting a lot like my dad, Johan, but I appreciate it."
We eventually stopped by my house after a few minutes of walking.
I didn't live far away, it was only a twenty-minute walk from my school, but he managed to catch up with me after I was the first to leave.
"...Sorry if it's bothering you, Lee, I just don't want you to be isolated in the future by yourself. Hey, how about this, we can hop back onto Isekai Online tonight, sound cool? I know you were grounded so we didn't get the chance to play together, but I found some sick ass gear I wanna show you."
"Oh hell yeah, now that's what I wanted to hear! Wait... did you just say you were on this week when I was grounded?"
"Yeah, why? You're acting like I don't play the game just because you aren't on."
"Did you not see the message I left at the guild?"
"Oh... uh… no, I didn't read the inbox."
"Seriously Johan?!!"
"W-What? Was it bad? What did I do?"
I facepalmed myself.
"Guild members of the Seven Virtues aren't meant to leave the guild until the next update is complete! We were supposed to keep our characters in the guild, so we could get the guild rewards when the update finished."
Johan looked to the side, cringing.
"Oh... that's right, I totally forgot about the new update that's coming out, and the event included. Man, I screwed up! It won't affect everyone else will it?"
"No, it won't, I'm assuming the devs for Isekai World Online were preparing something big for Guild members across the game, but for those who didn't follow their orders and stayed inside the Guild, they won't receive anything."
Johan crossed his arms, questioning me.
"So the orders for guild members was to not kill other NPCS and mobs, and to stay inside the guild until the update finished, right?"
"Yeah, that's pretty much it. But if you're confused as to why, then we're in the same boat."
"I guess we'll see when we log back on. The update should be finished by now."
"Yeah, I guess so."
I ambled towards my abode, waving at Johan.
"Alright, peace out bro, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Have a good one dude, see you at school."
I opened the fence to my front yard, made my way to the door, and walked straight in.
"I'm home!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, waiting to get their attention... but nobody answered, "Mom, Dad?" I waited again and got no reply, "Huh, they didn't tell me they were gonna be gone when I got back. Oh well, the house is free to me!"
This was such a wonderful feeling; having the house all to yourself, without the worries of anybody else.
It was like a breath of fresh air unless you were someone who could get paranoid fairly easily.
The first thing I did was go straight into my kitchen to grab a soda from the fridge which I popped open, chugging a majority of the doctor pepper.
"Tomorrow is Friday, which means the weekend is close, I can have Saturday and Sunday to grind Isekai Online without having to worry about school. Hell yeah!!"
I walked out of the kitchen and made my way upstairs into my room.
My room looked foreign compared to everything else in the house; anime posters were hung on the wall, mangas were stacked on my bookshelf, action figures placed on my dressers, and cringy body pillows of anime characters.
Woah, woah! Saying what I have in my room makes me feel like a complete no life! Well, then again, I kinda am.
"Another day, another rival."
In Isekai Online, I'm something known as one of the Four Kings of Terra; the four kings were individual players who made it to the top leaderboards and are known as the strongest.
They have the strongest items in the game and are practically unbeatable, that's why they're given such titles.
My Race class is known as a Human, as boring as that sounds.
No monster, no cool-looking demon, no hybrid or any of the sorts; just a human.
Do I sound bland? Maybe. But so many people go into some open MMORPG and choose a nonhuman to become the strongest, and wanting to call themselves the "Overlord" or whatever.
I just find it boring.
How about we have a human that's the strongest for once?
"Alright, let's get to cooking!"
Sitting down in my gaming chair, I grabbed my Virtual Gear.
It was a headset you put on around your scalp that covers your eyes, and ears, and connects to the nerves in your brain. That way, if you decided to eat something in the game, you could actually taste it from the facial nerves responding to the flavor.
Or at least, it was something like that. I'm not so good with this science stuff.
"Okay, logging in. I wonder how everyone's doing, it's been an entire week since I've been in." I reached forward to turn on my computer, feeling my consciousness being transported into the game database.
["Welcome Back, Star_Light69, you have two responding messages from player "Daddy_Ken1106", two received messages from "Wave_Protocol", and five responding messages from "Astral_Wrath22"."]
As of now, my consciousness was nothing but floating data, kept stagnant in front of the loading screen.
"Uhhh, open Daddy Ken's messages, what did he say? I know I texted him that I was grounded."
["Affirmative. Opening Daddy_Ken1106 messages."]
In the vast empty darkness around me, a hologram of my messages showed up in front of me.
{Message List
Ken: "That's fine if you're grounded because of report cards I completely understand that, parents suck, but I'll always be here if you need to talk, just message me on Discord."
Me: "Thanks Ken, I appreciate it. While I'm gone, make sure no one attacks our guild will ya?"
Ken: "Lmao, who's dumb enough to attack our guild, other than the Great Four Kings and their armies!?"
Me: "Just a precaution man.
Ken: "Yeah I understand that.
Ken: "See you till next time Star."
Ken: "Take care, man."}
"Oh, he was just saying goodbye in those last two messages. Okay, uhh, open Wave Protocols messages."
["Affirmative. Opening Wave_Protocols messages."]
{Message list
Wave: "Our guild is cooking, I think we're one of the strongest in Isekai Online. Phantom Mutiny is badass!"
Me: "We're the ghosts who rebel against the authorities of Isekai Online, of course, we're badass!"
Wave: "Yeah, and you're pretty lucky light to get early access to the beta and grind your character before we all could. You're one of the Four Kings, bro, that's fire."
Me: "Yeah, it's pretty cool. I'm overpowered as shit though, and it's hell running a kingdom."
Wave: "Me personally, I would've started a harem"
Wave: "A harem of cat girls, muscle mommy's, milfs, and all sorts of things!"
Wave: "Oh yeah, by the way, I might take the new quest that the devs put out. Apparently, it's a dungeon quest, you wanna go in with me?"
Wave: "Oh wait, you're grounded, I forgot. L bozo, I'll talk to you in discord then."
Wave: "Peace Light."}
"Was one of his last messages really L bozo?!!"
If I had hands right now I would've flipped him off.
Too bad I'm floating consciousness.
"Okay, open Astral_Wrath22 messages now!"
["Affirmative. Opening Astral_Wrath22 messages."]
{Message list
Astral: "Before I say anything, 1: I hope you're okay, 2: I love you, and 3: fuck your parents for grounding you."
Astral: "I wanted to let you know Kuma has joined Isekai Online, he wants your tag, Do you mind handing it over?"
Astral: "You used fonts for your name in the game, so I can't just write it down for Kuma."
Astral: "I'll wait for you to come back, meanwhile I'll help Kuma grind for a bit to level up."
Astral: "He says he's gonna surpass you."}
"Much love! And wait... surpass me?! I'd like to see him try. Alright, you can close messages now."
["Affirmative. Closing messages."]
"Continue."
I said continue since the game was done downloading now.
["Processing Login bonuses. Day 730 of playing Isekai Online, two years have officially passed, and you will be receiving a gift from the devs for your hard work."]
"730 days?! Holy shit, has it really been that long?"
["Player, Star_Light69 has received 5,000 WG (World Gems)"]
"F-Five hundred? I didn't see this in the reward list during the last login bonuses, was this some hidden reward?! Holy hell."
World Gems was this world's currency to unlock certain areas, summon certain weapons, conduct tradings, and even summon certain NPCS for your kingdom, or for your party.
To do all of that, it usually costs 30 World Gems, and I got 5,000!!
"Okay, send me into my avatar, Emperor!"
["Sending player, Star_Light69 into Emperor."]
My consciousness was finally transported from the Home Screen into the actual game now.
I was sent into my avatar, also known as Emperor. I last kept him waiting in the Guild Base for the update.
"It's good to be back."
That was Emperor talking. His voice was deep and powerful; he sounded better than I ever could, and even his posture was cool.
In this world, I had a completely different persona, I was known as Emperor, but my avatar's real name was Axel Lionheart.
"Now then, it's day 730 of Isekai Online, it's time I make myself known again!"