Overwhelming Firepower

The next morning, he woke up to the sound of his phone vibrating beside his pillow. He groaned and reached for it without opening his eyes.

Several messages had arrived. Most were from the group chat his old friend had created the previous night.

[So are we actually doing this?]

[I'm free Saturday.]

[Who's going to DM?]

[Not me.]

[You should do it.]

He smiled and typed a reply.

[Why me?]

Three responses appeared almost immediately.

[Because you're the one who suggested it.]

[Congratulations. You volunteered.]

[Good luck, DM.]

Lucen put the phone down with a grin. In the past, he would have preferred not being the DM, but now, he felt like telling a story.

He wanted to base the campaign on Aerok and his own idea of what the upcoming route might be like. He could not explain why, but inspiration was already flooding his mind.

Strangely, ideas for the campaign had already begun forming in his mind: a world at war, ancient gods, something waiting beyond the sky.

But those thoughts didn't last too long, as the moment he woke up, he felt an unfamiliar urge to exercise. He had felt the same thing yesterday, but the strange feeling of yesterday had distracted him from it.

That was truly confusing, as he was someone who barely exercised nowadays. He didn't think too deeply about it and started to do a few push-ups.

The movement was smooth, and his form seemed to be good. He didn't have any basis for that thought, but it felt right.

Without thinking, he adjusted the position of his hands, tightened his core, and changed the rhythm of his breathing.

'...Since when did I know how to do that?'

He finished doing his push-ups. It was a bit harder than he expected, but he was satisfied.

"Maybe I should start doing this regularly."

His arms would probably disagree with that decision tomorrow, but for now, Lucen felt strangely refreshed.

He took a shower, ate something, and spent the next few hours preparing for his stream.

By the time afternoon came, the room looked completely different.

The curtains were closed. His microphone was positioned in front of him, the second monitor displayed his chat, and Aerok was already running on the main screen. Lucen adjusted his headset.

"Alright, can you guys hear me?"

Messages immediately began appearing.

[LOUD AND CLEAR]

[HE LIVES!]

[Touch grass stream, when?]

[Where were you yesterday?]

[I waited the whole day for your stream]

Lucen laughed.

"I did touch grass yesterday, actually."

[Liar]

[Fake news]

[No Video, I won't believe it]

"I went outside and met with a friend."

[Impossible!]

[I thought we were part of the no-friend gang]

[Was it a girl... friend?]

[That can't be it!]

[Yeah, this guy is obviously maidenless]

Lucen stared at the messages.

"First of all, f*ck all of you. Second, yes, it was a guy."

[MAIDENLESS CONFIRMED]

[The dream is dead]

[I always believed in you, my comrade]

Lucen shook his head. "This is why I don't tell you people anything about my personal life."

[We are your personal life]

[That sounds incredibly sad]

[For him or us?]

Lucen laughed and turned his attention back to the game.

"Alright, enough about my nonexistent love life. Let's play."

The moment Aerok appeared properly on the stream, the chat immediately became more active.

[Is this preparation for the upcoming release?]

[Isn't his first stream also about Aerok?]

[How long ago was that?]

"Well, then let's get this started, shall we?" Lucen booted up the old game.

The familiar loading screen appeared. Seeing that on his screen made his head hurt again.

Lucen winced and rubbed his temple.

[You good?]

[Bro already taking damage from the loading screen]

[Skill issue]

"This is nothing, I just imagined the voices of you guys, and it made my head hurt." The pain disappeared almost as quickly as it had come.

[Wow!]

[Blaming chat already]

Lucen ignored them and started the game from the beginning. The last time he streamed this game was when he first started streaming, which was years ago.

The opening cinematic played. A kingdom at war. Monster-infested wilderness. Ancient ruins scattered across the continent. Then the camera descended toward a small village where the protagonist's journey began.

"It's always nice watching the opening. It always fills me with nostalgia."

Alexander appeared in the middle of the screen. He was carrying a cheap sword and wearing equipment that barely deserved to be called armor.

Lucen stared at Alexander in the game and felt something was wrong. He had played this game multiple times, but this was the first time he felt such a thing.

It was the same character model, with the same expression, and the same starting equipment. Yet Lucen could not shake the feeling that something about him was missing.

He rubbed his temple. 'Whatever. It should be nothing.'

The first few hours of Aerok were famous for being slow. New players usually spend a considerable amount of time gathering equipment, completing simple quests, and learning the combat system.

Lucen did none of that.

He skipped unnecessary dialogue and collected several hidden items. Once that was done, he went to find a certain monster that gave a huge amount of EXP, before heading to the Academy to start the main storyline.

The route Lucen used was not one most casual players knew about. The monster in question was easy to beat, but it was hard to find.

[I remember this!]

[Wasn't this the secret area that you couldn't find if you didn't have a certain magazine subscription back in the day]

"Unlike you guys, I did not need to buy such a magazine. I did this with unrelenting patience."

[Patience = no life]

[How many hours did this take you?]

"It's called dedication."

While talking to the chat, Lucen continued onward. The hidden path was almost impossible to notice unless the player knew exactly where to look. A narrow opening between two cliffs led toward a forest that appeared to be part of the background.

It was hard to spot if you didn't search the entire area thoroughly. Even those who read where to find it in the magazine back then found it difficult to spot.

Lucen walked directly through a cluster of bushes, jumped onto a rock, then used a strangely angled ledge to reach the hidden area.

[Bro still remembers the route]

[Muscle memory]

[He has done this too many times]

"Of course, you guys forgot I practically wrote all the walkthroughs of this game."

The monster appeared a few seconds later. It resembled a large black wolf covered in bony plates. This was a rather easy fight, much easier than the first boss.

At least, it was easy if the player knew how to fight it. Lucen defeated it quickly and leveled up a lot. Since he got everything he could at this point, he quickly headed to the Academy.

Normally, reaching the Academy this early would have been difficult. The game expected players to complete several quests, buy better equipment, and slowly learn the combat system.

Lucen ignored all of that.

He knew which enemies could be avoided, which shortcuts saved several minutes, and which seemingly useless items could be sold for enough gold to prepare for the Academy entrance exam.

Even after years of not playing from the beginning, the route remained clear in his mind. The chat immediately noticed.

[WHAT]

[You skipped half the starting area]

[Are we doing a speedrun?]

"Nah, I just want to get to the main storyline quickly. Also, for those who watched my first stream, you should know this is how I play this game."

Lucen guided Alexander through the Academy entrance exam with the same ruthless efficiency. The moment he completed the entrance examination, the game suddenly froze. The monitor that he was playing the game on turned dark.

"What the f*ck!"

Lucen could not help but curse. He was using the original game, playing it on its original console. Both were old, but he had taken care of them because they were among his most prized possessions.

The monitor remained black. Lucen reached toward the console. Then thunder shook the windows. The sound was so loud that several objects on his desk rattled.

He pulled off one side of his headset and stood. The room was still bright, yet the lights flickered twice before returning to normal. Even the chat was going wild.

[What the f*ck is happening!]

[The Thunderstorm is also getting stronger]

[My eardrums hurt]

[That shocked me]

Lucen moved toward the window instead of checking the chat. The sky outside had darkened.

A few minutes ago, sunlight had still been coming through the curtains. Now, thick black clouds covered everything, swirling in a way that made them look less like a storm and more like something gathering above the city.

Another flash lit the sky, but there was no lightning. Lucen saw it for a second, a thin violet line appeared between the clouds, and then it vanished.

"What the hell was that?"

Lucen stepped closer to the glass. Thunder struck in the distance, but it was weaker this time. It was also at this time that the dead monitor behind him flickered back to life.

On the monitor, the Academy had disappeared. What Lucen saw on the monitor was something he had never seen before, in all of his playthroughs.

Alexander stood alone beneath a black sky. The ground around him was filled with his dead comrades, all of whom Lucen recognized. In that sky, Alexander was looking at what looked like a purple rift.

It looked eerily similar to the violet line Lucen saw moments ago. The chat was going wild.

[What is this?]

[A hidden route?!]

[Did the game bug out, revealing a secret route?]

Faced with something that seemed straight out of a horror movie, Lucen's first reaction was not fear, but curiosity and excitement.

This could not be the upcoming route. The update had not even been released, and he was playing an original offline copy, so he could not suddenly download the DLC.

It was a route no one had ever seen before. Naturally, Lucen wanted to play it.

He wanted to know where it led, what secrets it contained, and why it had suddenly appeared on an offline copy of Aerok. Lucen returned to his seat, placed his hands on the controls, and spoke to the chat.

"Alright then guys, it's time for a new adventure."

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