"HyiiiiiAhhhh!" The swordsman flew off and bounced off the ground like a rag doll hit by a truck. A speeding truck on a high way. 
Seeing that the assailant had disappeared, the pig laid on the ground again. The scratch on its head and back quickly closed up and disappeared. 
A minute later.
Looking at the Irishman wearing sunglasses, sunbathing in a reclining beach chair, slurping on a smoothie, Timmy wanted to cry. "Can I get a refund?"
"What? Why would you want a refund?"
"I want a refund!" The swordsman cried out with a whiny voice. 
"Sheesh." John rolled his eyes. "Why are you nagging like a teenager all of sudden."
"Sorry." John firmly shook his head. "Our first and only core principle is no refunds."
"Can I file a complaint then?" Timmy asked.
"Sure." John nodded. 
"... Can you show me how?"
"..." The straw fell out of John's wide-open mouth. 
"You want me." John pointed at himself all shocked.  
"To show you." John pointed at the swordsman. 
"on how to file a complaint against me?" John pointed back at himself. 
"But if you do insist, you can find the answer in the tutorials." John shrugged.
"... Emm... No... It's the game!" The swordsman cried out. "I can't take it anymore! Why is the pain reduction here so low? I heard it's different in other games! This is just a terrible gaming experience!"
"Oh. I see. Pain reduction! We can fix that! Here. Watch me."
"Players these days. Can't even take 20% pain for a second..." John mumbled as he got up. 
20% pain is basically paper cut level pain. For 1 second. 
"20%?" The swordsman raised a surprised brow. 
'Open player primary menu interface template. Visibility equals public.' John commanded in his mind.
Normally, player interfaces are only visible to that player. However, as a developer, John can change that. 
Timmy stood up and watched John's demonstration. The pain sensation only activates for a quick moment in this game anyways. Even for long-lasting bleeding wounds, poison, or burning effects. 
Of course, if the player happened to enjoy pain, they can also change that in their settings. 
"Ok. So you go to the gameplay setting here." John poked at a tab. 
Timmy made identical gestures, following along. 
"Then you go to sensory options. Drag down to the bottom of the window."
"Under sensitivity here. Pain mitigation."
"Oh. OK." Timmy nodded. "So I turn this to zero right?"
"Umm... Sure?" John raised a suspicious brow. 
'Does this guy understand the meaning of the word mitigation? Well... Meh. Only one way to find out.'
The pain cap in any TI game is limited to just 40% anyways. Basically equivalent to a pinch from an annoying older sister. That lasts 1 second. 
"Aha!" The swordsman became confident all of a sudden. "No pain! This really IS a game for children!"
"Heyheyhey..." The swordsman dragged his long sword on the ground as he slowly built up a charge towards a napping pig, emitting an aura of confidence mixed with youth delusional syndrome. 
"I'm not ready to give up yet! Not this time! I can do this!"
"This time, I will not fall behind!"
"This time, I will be the strongest!"
"You shall have the honor of being the first monster defeated in this game."
'Yeah... I'm not sure if I can agree with that statement...' John silently watched. 
"Puny pig! Feel my wrath!" The swordsman jumped into the air, raising his sword above his head, readying a downward slam. 
The pig underneath raised its head at the sound. 
Looking at the pig's coldblooded eyes, the swordsman smirked. 'I'm a different man now! I am fearless!'
The pig shot towards the swordsman's chest. The swordsman flew off. 
"Hyiii- Motherfo-" 
"Tssss- Ah!" The swordsman rolled on the ground. "What the fork! Fork! Fork me! Ahhh!!"
"Wait. What the fork did I just say?"
"Fork! Fork! Sheet! This is bulksheet! What?"
"Yeah... There is a profanity filter bro. No swearing allowed here. There are kids in this game after all."
"You!" The swordsman angrily pointed at the Irishman who had just teleported in front of him. 
"Yes me." John nodded.
The swordsman turned his pointing index finger to a middle finger. 
"Sorry man." John scratched the back of his head. "I forgot what mitigation meant too. It's all the menu guys' fault."
"Oh..." Timmy accepted John's apology. Looks like he was not the only guy to dislike big unknown words in games, especially in menus. 
"But hey. Maybe if you took the TUTORIAL, you would have known that it's actually a buffer."
Timmy's softened gaze instantly became angry again. Looked like this warrior was on the verge of exploding. 
"But hey." John shrugged. "At least you know what the word mitigation means now. That's a gain right? Good for you."
"This is it! I want to file a complaint!" The swordsman gritted his teeth.
"Oh. OK. You want to make a complaint on the menu team? Yeah. I agree. I don't like those guys either." John nodded. 
"No! You!" The swordsman pointed at John with a trembling finger. "I want to file a complaint on you!"
"What? Why?" John widened his eyes in disbelief. 
"What do you mean why! You could have warned me about the migi- thing!" The swordsman whined, as if he was on the verge of tears.
"Mitigation? You behaved like you know what you were doing. So I didn't bother stopping you." John shrugged.
"Eh?" The swordsman tilted his head. This GM seems to have a good point. Maybe he was the one being impulsive?
Something felt off to him, but he couldn't pinpoint what. 
"But you unfroze that pig!" The warrior remembered something else.
"Wait. You expected me to help you farm with developer tools? That's cheating! I can get fired for that!"
"Eh? Oh." The swordsman tilted his head the other way. This GM has a point. Maybe he was the one who randomly assuming things. 
However, something is still off, but he couldn't pinpoint what. 
Like a strike of lightning flashing by in his mind, Timmy thought of what was wrong. 
"Wait. No! You could have warned me about unfreezing the pig!" Timmy gritted his teeth.
John pointed at his own eyes. "There was a warning man. I know you saw it. If you didn't hesitate, you would had your virgin kill already."
The swordsman blushed randomly for an instant for some unknown reasons. Then he tilted his head. This GM does have a point though.  
"Actually." John raised his hands, breaking Timmy's line of thought. "OK. Honestly. Now that I think about it, thanks to you, I found out that I actually don't give a fork anymore. I mean, I'm just a maintenance guy. Why am I even in these shoes right now?"
"What?!" The swordsman widened his eyes in disbelief, unable to believe the service he was getting from a mega-cooperation. 
"Yeah." John shrugged. "There is a huge temporary demand for GMs. So people from all over the company are dragged into this role."
The swordsman's mouth opened wider.
"I mean. I've never done this before. I don't even know what I'm doing."
"But hey. I'm sick of this sixty to seventy hours work weeks."
"I swear I see my dead grandpa making 'come here' gestures at me, at least twice a week, for the last past two whole months."
"I'm gonna quit anyways. So you know." John shrugged. 
"Yeah... Bro, that would really shuck. Wait. Why don't you just say no to overtime?" The swordsman's head shrugged back as if he didn't understand. 
"OK. Look kid. You have not been at real work have you. I'm not going to fork over my coworkers alright?"
"So... peer pressure?" The swordsman meekly asked. 
"Eh! Shut up. I'm just being a decent human being!"
"Uh huh... But the pay is good for overtime right?"
"... I'm on monthly pay."
"Oh..."
"I hope the company is not broke by the end of this, so I can get a good fat bonus."
"Oh..."
"Yep." John nodded. 
Looking at the piling up GM requests, John's cheeks twitched. 
"Ok. Look kid. Let's make a deal. I'll set the monsters to party mode, so-."
"What?" 
"Ugh..." John took a deep breath and sighed. "Well. How do I explain this. So, solo mode is designed for hardcore players. The gaming experience as you know, is kind of like playing Sekiro-"
"What's Sekiro?"
"Ugh..." John lowered his head and quickly mumbled. "This is why I just looove talking to people." 
"Does Dark Souls ring a bell?"
"What?"
"Ok." John rubbed his face. "In simple terms, to accommodate hardcore players, when solo fighting, monsters get a huge boost in strength. As a reward, there is also a boost for drop rates and individual higher experience gained in comparison."
"What?"
"What do you mean what!" John wanted to rage quit. Is it that hard to understand? Is there too much of an age gap? Do young people speak a different language now?
"The individual higher experience thing... I though-"
"Ok. Let's say a solo player kills a monster and gets 100 experience points." John paused to make a 'are you following along' gesture.
"OK?"
"If that monster is killed by two players, they get 60 experience each. Less individually, but more combined. So in some sense, party mode is encouraged. I mean, it's a MMORPG game. Right? People make friends here right? Haha... ha..."
"Umm..."
"Moving along~" John continued without waiting for Timmy's question. "Let's stay on point here. Thus, when a party of two or more people form, the game assumes that they are the MapleStory ty-"
"What?"
"Easy mode. Got it? Easy mode! If there were two of you sneak attacking an easy mode pig, how hard do you think the game is?"
"Oh... Doesn't that give party players a huge advantage? They can kill monsters much faster and level up faster. I mean, taking the hard mode and becoming a third rate player certainly won't feel good."
"Ok. That's the last question I will take today. Thank you. And the answer is no. The game is not designed to be grindy ok? There isn't that much repetitive farming. In other words, not that many monsters."
"Leveling is meant to be fast. But there are huge penalties on death."
"Oh..."
"Yep. You dragged me off point again. Sheesh, you are like Peter Parker."
"Sorry... Oh. So you were making classical culture references."
"Yes! Exactly! Man, I've gotta take a break soon, or I swear I'm gonna die of karoshi."
"Wait." Timmy raised a hand. "Sekiro... you just said Karoshi."
"No. My name is not Sekiro."
"You are a weeboo!" An invisible light bulb lit up above the swordsman's head. "Get it?"
John silently stared back.
"Old school talking. You know. Yeah? No? OK."
"First of all." John raised a finger. "No. Just. No. Anyways, I'm feeling pretty darn tired here."
"So I will set the monsters to easy mode for you. You play. I sleep. But you have to cover for me when sheet happens. Alright? Alright. Good."
"Oh. Also, before you leave or log out, remember to wake me up. Thanks."
"Sure?" The swordsman reluctantly nodded. 
John hazily pointed at the swordsman. 'this player party status equals party.'
Laying on the soft grass field, John's head quickly felt heavy. His mind became dizzy. 
'This guy is right. The grass really is comfortable.'
'Also. Voting no against near reality concepts was absolutely the best decision.'
'No mosquitoes. No worms. No disgusting bugs. Just the best of nature... and fresh air, and me... and...'
"Hey! Godmode233! Wake up!"
"Ah? Huh?" John hazily squinted his eyes. 
Who am I? Where is this? Who is calling me?
"Hey! Quickly!"
'Oh...' John rubbed his itchy eyes. 
"Yes. What?" John grumbled. 'Young people nowadays.'
"Look!" Timmy pointed at the distant sky over the stone walls of the town. 
In the distant dusk sky, there was a bright light. 
'Judging by the sky, considering that time here passes at an one to one rate to reality, I should have napped for two or three hours?' John blinked a few times. 'Two hours? This guy grinded here, at the same spot, on the same minions, for two whole hours?!'
'Well... Sheet.'
"How do I record this?" Timmy waved his finger at the brightening star all excited.
John sighed heavily. 'What a brat.'
'Open player menu interface template.'
"It's under the storage tab. Toggle on recording. Would've made sense if-"
"Found it! Thanks!"
John hazily blinked a few times at the menu. Then he looked away. 
Turning back at the menu again, John raised a brow. 
'Close player menu interface template.'
'Open player menu interface template.'
Flipping through the big menu, John raised a brow. 
'Is it me, or did the menu shrink in size? Also, why is the log out button disabled?' 
"Huh... You... Is your log out button greyed out?" John asked to confirm.
"Yes? Oh. Now that you mention it, Yeah. Wait. Let me make a panorama first."
BOOM!
A strong wind brushed through the grass plains. The ground trembled.
Wait. That's not just a bright star! It's a meteor!

 Two cars, one black and one yellow, were parked in front of the Osborne Building, and Felicia and Lis got out of the car and entered the building.
 "Mr. Li Stan, please wait a moment, I will file the contract and apply for your ID card!"
 After entering the building, Felicia signaled Liz to wait a little, and then took the elevator upstairs.
 Today, the front desk of Osborne is just the one he is more familiar with, so Li Si simply went to the front desk and took a high chair to sit down and chat with the front desk girl.
 Waited for a few minutes, and a prompt came from his system panel.
 [Hint: You successfully joined the CJ-2042 laboratory, and you have completed all the acquisition conditions of [Template: Scientist]!  ]
 [Template]: Scientist (rare) Attribute: Omitted
 [Hint: You formally become an incumbent employee of the Osborne Group, and you complete the conditions for obtaining the [template: office worker]!  ]
 ————————————
 [Template]: Office worker (general)
 Attribute bonus: Spirit +0.1
 Special effect bonus: None
 Template skills: sleep late and wake up early
 Late late and get up early (active): Adjust the circadian clock time, no matter how tired you are, you can get up after the set time arrives, of course-just just get up.
 Evaluation: 9 to 5?  No, we are obviously an overtime dog from five to nine, and still not raising wages.
 Acquisition conditions: Become a regular employee of any company.
 ————————————
 "... Is this template here to sell cute?"
 Li Si sweated after glancing at the office worker template.
 Although the spirit attribute bonus of 0.1 is not bad, but this template skill is simply a wonderful flower. Waking up on time is a ghost skill.
 But the scientist template is finally completed. After the intelligence of 0.5 and the spirit of 0.1 are added, the brain is surrounded by a cool breath for a while, and the whole person is clear.
 [Hint: You have obtained a new identity template. Do you want to change the locked identity template?  ]
 At this time another system prompt appeared.
 "Change [Template: Scientist] to lock the template for the current identity!"
 Li Si's answer is of course undoubtedly, originally it is to take the scientist route, what can be changed without changing the scientist template.
 [Hint: Change your locked identity template to [Template: Scientist], your game mode will change, daily tasks-[learning] will stop posting, and the rest please trigger by yourself!  ]
 "Finally no class."
 Seeing the system prompt, Li Si laughed instead. He had to vomit in class long ago. The middle school classroom taught all relatively simple knowledge. He could not learn anything except that poor experience point. Now  Going to class is a total delay.
 And the general experience acquisition method of the scientist template is the most suitable for him, as long as the project research or manufacturing items can get a lot of experience, which can be much faster than the class.
 "R & D!"
 Glanced at the direction of the elevator and found that Felicia had not yet come down. Li Si decisively got up and changed to the sofa in the rest area, then closed his eyes.
 The template skill [R & D] was launched, and the remaining 7450 general experience was invested.
 Bang!
 Li Si's entire brain seemed to boil.
 The brain is highly active, and the information retrieval ability and concentration are greatly improved.
 Under his selective ignorance, the five senses information was directly shielded, leaving only the various information constantly emerging in his mind.
 The memory has never been so clear.
 Various books and papers I have read, experimental data of Richard Parker and Kurt Conners, experimental data of potent growth hormone and bionic muscle fibers, and even the long-standing memories accumulated in the bottom of my heart have emerged.
 These memories seem to be organized into folders, which are intuitively listed in front of his eyes. He can retrieve the information he wants as long as his heart moves.
 R & D technology also seems to be a simple matter. Countless knowledge is like vegetables in a vegetable basket. It seems that it is only a matter of picking the right ingredients and putting it in the pot to become a tempting delicacy.
 But Li Si always keeps in mind his purpose and forcibly suppresses all the cluttered ideas called inspiration.
 He started the R & D skills at this time not for the purpose of inventing anything. What he wanted was to use the increased information retrieval ability to organize his learning results during this period, and organize all the movie plots before crossing.
 This is obviously a difficult task. During this time, all the books he had read were worth a medium-sized library. Organizing memories was going back to countless years of memory.
 ...
 "Mr. Li Stan?"
 "Mr. Li Stan!"
 "Lee ..."
 I do n't know how long it has passed, and I revisited the knowledge in my mind and all the movies. Li Si then took a sigh of relief and gradually recovered his five senses. 
 R & D status is still not over, after all, he invested more than 7,000 general experience to ensure that the effect is strong enough.
 Although the effect of most of the experience value is to increase the strength of the R & D status, the duration has also been extended a lot. It is estimated that this state must be maintained for both days today and tomorrow.
 However, he still has a lot of experience in controlling his own thoughts. Other than the active thinking, it is easy to lose his mind. The other effects are not great.  
 Of course, there is also inevitable fatigue and nutritional deficiencies. Fortunately, he has learned from the past and has developed the habit of preparing some high-energy food on his body.
 "How long has it passed?"
 Took a few chocolates and compressed biscuits from his pocket and swallowed them. Li Si turned to look at the anxious Felicia.
 After seeing Lis respond, Felicia finally breathed a sigh of relief and replied: "It's about five minutes to come down from me. It's about twelve minutes from my elevator."
 "Good efficiency!"
 Li Si nodded.
 "Thank you for your praise!"
 Felicia apparently thought Lis was talking about him, smiled politely, and then handed over a magnetic card, saying:
 "This is your ID card, you can enter the CJ-2042 laboratory with him, and you can also get the advanced access rights of the company's smart program Kali!"
   "Oh?"
 The result of Li Si 's interest was the identity card, and he glanced at the label attached to it, and finally he knew his position this time.
 "Deputy project director? Is it so big?"
 He looked at Felicia with some surprise. Originally, he thought he was just an ordinary researcher. He didn't look at the previous contract at all.
 "Of course, the company's directors attach great importance to you, if you can come up with the research results as soon as possible, I think the adverb in front will be removed soon!"
 Felicia smiled and said: "The laboratory is just under the company. I do n't have enough authority to accompany you. You can automatically go down by swiping the magnetic card in the employee elevator."
 "No problem, you are busy with you."
 Lisi played the magnetic card in his hand and walked directly to the elevator.

This is the Redo. Link for Raw is https://www.uukanshu.com/

"Enable hardware installation mode, permission code: Gti77439."
 Bringing the chip to the official game room connected to the power supply, Li Si quickly reported a string of numbers.
 Compared to the humble internal beta gaming helmet, the official version of the game cabin is not so easy to disassemble, or it can not be disassembled at all, the entire shell is integrally formed, and the rigidity cannot be destroyed by the current technological level of the earth  Even a successful disassembly will cause self-destruction.
 Fortunately, the game warehouse has a hardware installation mode. Although it requires permission coding, it has been queried when the all-true virtual mode was opened in the previous life.
 [Drip!  The command confirms that the permission code of the machine is being queried ... The verification is passed and the hardware installation mode is turned on.  ]
 The sound of mechanical stiffness is heard inside the game warehouse.
 As the verification passed, the cold silver-white shell of the game warehouse suddenly rippled and turned into a liquid substance like mercury.
 Lisi gently put the blue chip on the mercury, and soon the chip was swallowed by the mercury and disappeared. After a waiting time of ten seconds, the mercury returned to a hard metal shell.
 [Hardware installation is complete, the machine starts self-test ...]
 [Hardware adaptation succeeded ... Querying driver ...]
 [The driver is running normally, there is no missing function module, and the hardware installation is successful.  ]
 "It's done!"
 Hearing the prompt of successful installation, Li Si finally relaxed.
 This step is really too important, related to his next plan.
 Without further ado, Li Si quickly opened the game room and injected the nutrient solution, then lay in. As the sleep aids in the nutrient solution worked, he quickly fell into a deep sleep.
 After a moment, the consciousness gradually recovered and the dark vision gradually lightened up, and soon Li Si was already on a metal platform suspended in the void.
 [Hello, respected player, the game is still 14 hours and 5 minutes away from the official operation. Currently, the game characters can be established in advance, is it established?  ]
   "set up."
 [Please name the characters, the names must follow the real-world naming rules, you can also choose to use this name to log in to the game.  ]
 "Name: Lee Stan."
 [Please select the initial template of the character, the template is related to your game experience and game mode, please choose carefully!  ]
 [The currently available free initial templates are: office workers, students, unemployed travellers .... For more initial templates, please browse in the charge template column.  ]
 "Template ..."
 While waiting for the template selection, Li Si, who was familiar with fluency, hesitated.
 The template is an important setting in the game, which is equivalent to a combination of identity occupations and other elements. In the game, multiple templates can be used, but only one initial template can be selected when creating characters.
 This initial template is equivalent to the initial identity of entering the game, and different templates also have different attributes and special effect bonuses.
 He doesn't care about the attributes and special effects. These basic templates can be completely entered into the game and then obtained, but the initial identity is very important.
 He has three choices in his heart, the charge template: soldier, free template: student, free template: office worker.
 Soldier template, needless to say, he chose this before rebirth. After all, it is a krypton gold. The soldier template has many tasks and very good attributes. It can be mixed smoothly with previous experience.
 But this choice was first ruled out by him. Although the military develops well, the ceiling is also very low, the development potential is limited, and the most important thing is that the degree of freedom is too bad.
 The question now is the choice between student templates and office worker templates.
 It is an advantage to turn on the all-true virtual mode in advance, but only by choosing the technology route can this advantage be maximized.
 I want to take the science and technology route at least to get the scientist template. The scientist template is not an optional basic template. Even if you ca n't buy it for money, you can only get it in the game.
 Now if you choose an office worker template, you can directly set up the company. The difficulty of obtaining a scientist template will be much lower, and the initial capital will be much higher.
 But the student template is also very good, you can open the learning section in advance while gaining a lot of directional experience, and can meet some major plot characters, better grasp the plot trend.
 If you just choose a student template, it will be more difficult to obtain a scientist template.
 "Choose template: student."
 Hesitated for a long time, Li Si still chose the student template.
 Compared with the difficulty of obtaining a scientist template, it is still more important to grasp the plot. After all, the biggest advantage for him is the familiarity with the plot.
 And open the learning column in advance, even if there is no scientist template, it can make up for the foundation in advance and form a certain combat effectiveness.
 With the ability of self-preservation, it is not a problem to take some risks and plan to obtain a scientist template.
 [Selected template: students, please set the place of birth and identity background.  Note: The identity background cannot be accompanied by additional assistance,
The default lock foundation is set to orphan.  ]
 Hearing the prompt of the system, Li Si, who had already planned when selecting the student template, said without hesitation:
 "Settings: Orphan at New York Random Welfare Institute, new transfer student from the Midtown Technology High School Graduation Class, and other background settings are generated by default."
 [The identity is set successfully, the memory video has been generated, Please read the memory video by yourself, the system will not be responsible for the subsequent impact caused by the inconsistency of the action and the identity background.  ]
 [Character creation completed!  ]
 "Open the property panel!"
 Lisi did not rush to open the memory video, in fact, the thing did not do much except to deal with some inquiries and censorship.
 ———— Character panel ————
 Name: Lee Stan
 Strength: 0.6 (Muscle Explosive Power)
 Constitution: 0.7 (anti-strike ability / recovery ability)
 Intelligence: 1.3 (logical ability / thinking activity / learning ability)
 Spirit: 2.1 (willpower / spirit / sensation)
 Note: The standard attributes of normal adult men are all one, this basic attribute is the player body scan result.
 [Talent Skill]: None
 [General Skills]: None
 [Learning] : None
 [Own template]: civilians (basic), students (initial).
 ————
 [Template]: civilian (basic) lv: 0/18
 Attribute bonus: all attributes + 0.1 / per level
 Special effect bonus: None
 Template skill: None
 Required experience at the next level: 0/1000
 Evaluation: You are just an ordinary citizen, but you may try to make yourself a stronger citizen.
 ————
 [Template]: Student (general)
 Attribute bonus: Intelligence +0.1
 Special effect bonus: learning speed + 5%
 Template skill: None
 Evaluation: You who have received basic education have certain knowledge, good thinking logic ability and learning habits.
 ——————————

Ves resumed his work on his design after taking a break. The board meeting led to modest changes but gave everyone a lot of food for thought. One thing that struck him was that everyone pushed for mass production. They didn't believe the LMC could deliver the necessary quality to grow into the high end market.

"They're right, in a way."

He'd have to become a Journeyman Mech Designer to break into the top and most lucrative end of the market. That was still a long way off despite the help of the System.

"My various Skills have reached Journeyman-level, but I'm barely scratching the surface. I'm still short on depth and experience."

Ves vaguely estimated he would have to design at least five or six original models to gain the minimum amount of experience to advance. They also had to be distinctly different mech, so Ves couldn't get away with designing six identical knight mechs.

"Let's get back to work."

Ves thought about the implications of forming the structure of his artificial musculature from scratch.

"The more experienced mech designers can do this by heart. I haven't reached that level yet, even with the theories I've learned."

In such cases, it would be a shame to consult a reference book and adapt a expertly designed template that had been derived from examples of nature. For example, knight templates often took their inspiration from studying the bodies of athletes and soldiers.

Ves chose to be fairly extravagant by borrowing a high quality reference book from the Clifford Society's Moon Library.

It took a couple of says for the fast courier to deliver the secure materials required to read the book. For a price of ten merits, the Society went out of its way to make sure that Ves didn't propagate its contents.

He didn't spend his time in vain during the wait. He re-read the textbooks on Battle Mechatronics and looked back on his old designs to study the way their musculature worked.

Mechs generally adopted simplified structures compared to a human made out of blood and flesh. In particular, they didn't require so much fine control for their toes, neck and head. Knight mechs also sacrificed a lot of finesse in their arms in favor of brute strength.

"Still, a strong pair of legs forms the basis of a sturdy knight."

Knights relied on the strength of their legs to build up momentum and withstand shocks. They also depended on their legs for balance.

The reference book he borrowed happened to contain a couple of templates for all the different archetypes. After a lot of browsing, Ves chose to go with the lightest knight template.

"It's the most responsive and agile out of all the medium knight templates. It's the only choice that conforms with my vision."

The black phoenix would never sit still like a rock for long. It wished to endure attacks only up to the extent for it to close in on its opponent and take it out.

A lighter musculature that facilitated movement over force enabled this choice of battle. Unfortunately, Ves also had to accept a substantial reduction in arm strength.

"My knight will never match the strength of a purely offensive type like a swordsman mech."

He accepted the compromise, since his mech's substantial defense made up for its lacking offensive prowess. It aimed to outlast its opponents by surviving to the end rather than killing them off first.

Ves made a couple of tweaks to the standard template.

He increased the range of motion of the shield arm to facilitate bashing with the flat or sharp end of the phoenix-emblazoned shield.

He also strengthened the back and abdominal muscles to insure they wouldn't overstain if his mech dug into hardy ground.

His inexperience with designing a musculature led to long nights of continuous work. The black phoenix remained demanding throughout the process, sometimes even forcing Ves to throw away hours worth of development.

The delays resulted in further refinements that provided greater strength without taking up too much space, which was getting very cramped by now.

He sat back in his seat with a satisfied smile after the latest round of modelling pronounced his work to be without any major flaws.

"This is the best I can achieve at the moment."

It helped that he licensed a fairly premium artificial musculature system from the Society. If he licensed a generic one, he would have been forced to bulk up his frame.

Still, the various compromises he made so far made it clear it didn't excel as a damage sponge. "It's leaning a bit too heavily on the offensive side."

Ves intended to use the armor cladding process as a way to correct this imbalance.

Much like the artificial musculature, the application of the armor system also came with a lot of complexity. Many mech designers either used a reference book or modelled the most optimal layout with sophisticated processors.

This time, Ves declined to borrow another reference book. His experience and his Optimization Sub-Skills should be sufficient for him to design an adequate armor layout.

The Veltrex armor system consisted of a minimum of three layers.

The upper layer consisted of various composites that worked best against directed energy weapons.

The middle layer consisted of heavier alloys that specialized in stopping kinetic weapons.

The lower layer mainly dispersed heat and force that went through the other layers. It also worked great in mitigating explosive damage.

The weakness of this armor system became apparent. If an enemy force stripped the upper layer with a ballistic weapon, it could easily penetrate past the middle and lower layers. While their sheer thickness could still mitigate a certain amount of energy damage, it was obviously not ideal.

"I doubt my models will become prolific enough for enemies to know about this weakness."

Despite this wrinkle, the Veltrex armor system could withstand a surprising level of abuse for its thickness.

Some armor systems could be trimmed or thickened by adjusting the amount of layers.

The Veltrex system worked a little differently by adhering to the same three layers, only this time he could adjust the thickness of each of the layers.

Ves spent a lot of time with the fine-tuning of the armor layout. He adopted a fairly standard medium knight layout but trimmed some fat wherever he could get away with it. However, he didn't go too far, as a knight still had to withstand a lot of blows.

"Even if the internals are easier to repair, it's still not a good idea to make it easy to get past the armor."

He took his time in this phase, dragging it out over four weeks as he meticulously verified his design choices with advanced mathematical modelling. From chilly ice planets to desolate asteroids, Ves simulated every possible hostile environment he could come up with. His model performed surprisingly poorly in vacuum and hot environments.

"My mech doesn't generate as much heat as a laser rifleman, so I didn't put too many heatsinks in its design."

This limited its heat processing capacity. The only way his phoenix could shunt its heat was through shunting it from its feet or dissipating it through infrared radiation.

"Isn't it ironic for a phoenix knight to be prone to overheating?"

Ves decided to keep the current amount of heatsinks. Adding any more meant decreasing his mech's performance to an unacceptable level in his eyes. He took the Republic's geography into account as well.

"The Bright Republic doesn't have that many hot planets anyway, and spaceborn mechs are far more suitable to deploy in vacuum environments."

After making sure the armor held up in every other environment, Ves surrendered himself to his artistic fancies. He meticulously carved the upper layer of the armor with phoenix-themed reliefs.

He shaped the generic humanoid face into a phoenix's head. He carved up the shoulder pauldrons into a feather-like appearance. He added minor decorative lines throughout the torso to reinforce its association with blackfire and phoenixes.

The only downside to this 'extra' addition was that the carvings affected the structural integrity of the armor system. Ves had to bulk up many of the sections due to the weaknesses he inadvertedly introduced.

"It's worth it, though. My design looks good, really good."

He already applied a coating of black and gold to his mech. The change in color amplified the connection between the design and the image in his mind. The black phoenix strongly approved of the phoenix knight's impressive appearance. It definitely possessed a strong level of gravitas that he only found in his recent Marcus Aurelius limited edition model.

What particularly stood out from its appearance was its underlying menace. The black coating gave his design a sinister association that Ves didn't see very often in knights.

The Marc Antony Mark II radiated aggression as well, but it always had a noble and flamboyant touch to it. The phoenix knight decried the brave charge, choosing instead to triumph over its opponent through a mix of guile and speed

"This doesn't fit with the knight ethos. Even offensive knights don't go this far."

Fortunately, Ves still had to design its shield and armor. He compensated for the menace by adding a slightly wider shield. He spent over three days perfecting the phoenix wing design on its surface. The asymmetrical look caused by the exaggerated curling wing gave it a distinctly exotic moon-like appearance.

As for the sword, Ves went ahead with designing it as planned. The winged guards and the phoenix body hilt gave the sword a fine touch, but besides that he didn't stray from standard doctrine. Together with the use of generic sword alloys, it was clear the sword would never be able to outshine the shield, which Ves had cladded it entirely with premium Veltrex armor layers.

His mech came into shape after more than three months of design work. The seasons changed and the tension between the Republic and the Kingdom neared the boiling point. Despite the passing of time, Ves hardly noticed any of it as he became subsumed in perfecting his design.

He spent the final weeks in subjecting his tentatively functional design through a barrage of tests. Quite often, the simulations revealed a host of flaws in the interaction between the armor and the internals underneath. These flaws hadn't showed up when Ves tested those systems in isolation. Only when he put together every piece in a single package did the flaws come to light.

"This is still rather sloppy for me. It's taken longer to eliminate all these flaws than I thought.

Nevertheless, Ves successfully completed his first iteration of what he temporarily called the Blackbeak.

"Blackwing sounds better, but it's too bad my mech isn't capable of flight."

Perhaps he'd adopt the name for an aerial variant of his design. The base model possessed sufficient space in the back to accomodate a flight system, though he would also have to overhaul the internals to increase its heat-handling capacity.

"That's a problem for later."

Now that he finished a solid design with concrete specs, Ves thought about the next step in his design process.

"I'm going to have to fabricate a prototype and subject it to an extensive amount of gruelling tests."

This went doubly so for knights that specialized in long-term durability. Ves couldn't trust his mathematical models to reflect the actual truth. His design might still hide a small number of critical flaws.

"The thing about models is that they reflect a distorted version of reality. No single model exists so far that can simulate our reality with perfect fidelity."

Even the System's impressive models admitted defeat in this area. For an existence capable of materialization and time travel to express its inferiority in this area, Ves didn't delude himself that he could trust his models blindly.

"First, let's see what the others have to say. They must be brimming with anticipation with what I've been cooking up all these months."

He exited his office, only to encounter a worrying development.

"What's happening?" Ves asked.

"You should check the mech portals." Carlos replied as he passed him a data pad. "One of your competitors is one step ahead of you."

Ves glanced at the news article and found to his surprise that another Apprentice Mech Designer debuted an offensive knight design as his first original mech. Could this be a coincidence?

Then he recognized the designer.

"I know this guy."

Humanity has conquered half the galaxy and the Age of Mechs reigns supreme!

Ves Larkinson lacked the genetic aptitude to become a famed mech pilot. Fighting against his fate, he studied mech design in order to express his love for mechs as a builder instead of a soldier.

When Ves graduated from college, he returned to a new but empty boutique. Left with a small, newly founded mech workshop that his father painstakingly built with a mountain of debt, Ves somehow needs to make ends meet with the bank breathing down his neck.

In the midst of his despair, he found salvation from another legacy his father had left.

"Welcome to the Mech Designer System. Please design your new mech."

--Join The Mech Touch's unofficial Discord server: https://discord.gg/APB5KCU

It was a few days after the Minotaur incident and he still hadn't managed to find Bell. He had even asked Hestia, but she said that Bell needed some space right now after what had happened. I had also been having some more of those dreams, where he had explored different doors every time. He had also made a HUGE discovery. No matter what, his capacity to summon depended on his willpower, which in a way made sense, since he was bringing creatures into the world using his own spirit. After all of this, he decided that it was time to begin working on some equipment. Both for his sake, and for Bell's. He already knew that Bell most likely wouldn't need it, especially after he found Crozo's armor. But he could still make things to help.

                                                         *                                  *                                         *

The next day he had decided that instead of wasting his time looking for Bell, when he knew that most likely Bell would come looking for him, he decided that he would go back to forging equipment in his forge. When he got there, he immediately went to his own workshop and began to work on some daggers, chest plates, and armored boots. At first, the Chest plates were REALLY bad, while the daggers were actually pretty good, and the boots being average. He reasoned that daggers were basically just like extremely short swords, so he had a similar image, and he already had experience making swords. As for the reason why the boots were okay, he had no idea. He figured that if he was having a hard time with making Chest plates after a couple hours, he would ask for some help. And slowly but surely, he was getting better at making Chest's. After every failure, he would melt the metal back down and start over again. After continuously doing this many times, he had finally made a satisfactory Chest plate. After that, he went back to making daggers, this time with better success than he had been having hours ago. He started out making daggers that were about C rank, but after a few hours he had managed to make a S rank dagger! He repeated the exact same process, but only ended up with an A rank dagger instead. Still, he was pretty pleased with his achievement. He knew he would have to show Hephaestus after he was done forging, but he was still busy.

Next came the boots. He would use the same process he would always use now, with melting the failures and using the better outcomes as a template for an image. When the outcome was better than the template, he would replace it with the new one, and repeat the process. Right now he had a S dagger, a B chest plate, and an A pair of boots. He wiped the sweat from his brow and pulled out his bed from the closet, since he was too tired to go home. He laid his head down and slowly closed his eyes, before remembering to turn off the forge, which he quickly did, and then finally went to sleep.

                                                              *                                 *                                *

He awoke to the sound of his workshop's door opening, opening his eyes and sitting up to find that Hephaestus had come into my workshop. She was obviously surprised that I was still here and we just kinda stare at each other for a minute. Finally, she cleared her throat and started speaking.

"So, Relez, how have you been doing? Also, why are you still here? I know I gave you permission to sleep in here, but I didn't think it would happen this soon." she asked me.

I shrug my shoulders in response and start explaining everything that happened in the past day. She was obviously shocked I had seemingly managed to make an S rank Dagger, especially since I had barely had any experience making them. She had hugged me and congratulated me on my accomplishment, but not to let myself get a big head. I agreed and showed her the dagger. She carefully looked it over and confirmed that it was, indeed, an S rank.

She looked at me again and said "Well, you have gotten past a big goal that not many other Blacksmiths are able to get past, so you should be proud of yourself, Relez. If you keep this progress up, you'll be able to make something worthy of my attention soon enough. You may even be able to impress some of the other goddesses, though I wouldn't count on it if I were you."

I nod my head and agree with her, knowing my current limits. As long as I keep practicing I will eventually surpass my limits and be able to make even better equipment. I mentally resolve myself to keep practicing, when the two of them hear a knock on the door. "Who is it?" I ask from my spot. "It's Bell, Relez. I was wondering if you were ready to go on an adventure with me. I also managed to find us a supporter by the name of Lilliruca Arde. So come on out when you are ready, please?" he asks.

I'm surprised, it's already been that long since I closed myself off? Oh well, let's get going. I grab a couple of the A ranked knifes and a pair of boots. I gear myself up, and I head off after waving goodbye to Hephaestus. She waves back and I leave, finding Bell waiting for me and deciding to tease him about keeping me waiting and laughing about it. He cools off and brings me outside, where we meet the abused supporter, Liliruca Arde. I feel bad for her, even after everything that happened.

"So this is who you came to find Bell?" she asks. "But where was he on our last few adventures?" At that moment, I knew I had to start teasing them about keeping each other for their selfs, where they both start to blush and make excuses while I laugh while they make them, where they eventually cool off. Lili asks me a question about my strength and I answer mostly honest but not entirely honest. Afterall, I don't know if this is an alternate universe, even though most events have stuck to the plot. There have been a few deviations here and there. Bell grabs my shoulder and asks if I'm okay since I've been just standing for a few minutes. I nod my head and ask if we're going or not. He nods his head and we head out

Relez is a teenager who is obsessed with manga and anime. One day while he is coming home from school he sees a girl being ganged up on by half a dozen guys and is killed after saving the girl. On the edge of death he has only three regrets and that is that he couldn't live a full life, that he wasn't able to see his little sister grow up and that he wasn't able to see how the ending of Danmachi went. Hearing his regrets a God sends him to the world of Danmachi to live his life and hopefully solve the problems that show up there.

Angie barely controlled the western army at all. Instead, she broke down a few roofs to build herself a palanquin she could mount onto an ogre's back. Or rather, she found a couple of people in her army capable of building it for her and made them do it. Once she had her new home built and mounted onto an ogre willing to carry it, she simply sat inside practicing magic. I had shown her my way of building circuits, but she wasn't precise enough to make them correctly. That was a flaw she was dead set on fixing.

Instead of her, the role of organizing the army fell on Euri. She didn't seem to mind it, and her skill as a leader was greater than I thought Angie would be capable of anyway. Many took queues from Angie, though, and built palanquins for ogres to carry. It didn't take many before Euri decided to work them into her marching orders. Due to resistance from the air the shape had to be really sharp to keep it from messing with the ogres' balance, not leaving a lot of room for their human occupants, but they were large enough to have a human sitting between the shoulder blades of an ogre with enough room in front of them to see their circuitry.

Unlike Adrian CMXXVIII, Euri didn't equip her forces with wagons and beasts of burden. Instead they hitched sleds to the hell hounds and palanquins to the ogres and had the soldiers carry miscellaneous supplies. The ogres could carry nearly one tenth of the humans while the hound sleds could carry another four, together half of the humans in her army could be resting at all times. She set it up so the humans would be rushing much faster than was comfortable, but they'd be able to rest on the ogres or hounds. 

Random encounters would normally slow down a force, but with my constructs the cleanup would be done in moments. With the average level of power of the army, Euri didn't feel that caution was necessary. Instead she decided to prioritize getting her army as well adjusted to their new power as possible. Her march would end near midday and training would follow. I was already looking forward to how lethal this army would be.

Once the marching started, though, I found the magical experimentation much more interesting. I'd taught all of the humans how to make actual circuits instead of the excessive human ones, and they were proving to be very difficult for the humans and ogres.

The race with the greatest form of success was actually the hounds. They seemed to have an inherent means of understanding circuits based around fire, which allowed them to leap forward in understanding far faster than the humans and ogres that had to manually train themselves in precision. An unfortunate side-effect of their fire-based circuits being so easy, the hounds were even less proficient in all other circuits than anything else. I considered trying to force them to understand everything, but decided against it. Their application was limited, but they were better at the limited application than their counterparts.

Noticing my interest, Euri ordered the entire formation to practice while they ran, exhausting both their bodies and their will-cores at the same time. It didn't take long for a pattern to emerge before me, while running they made almost no progress in precision, but they gained proficiency with the circuit generating process itself making each circuit faster than the one before. While they rested, they learned precision more easily. Not many had noticed, so I informed my forces of this phenomena. Once they started doing it on purpose, the effects became much more pronounced. The announcement also drove Angie out of her palanquin for the first time.

Their attention to their surroundings was abysmal, I had to take care of almost every creature they encountered lest they get torn to shreds without noticing they were under attack, but they could gain battle experience once they knew how to utilize circuits in battle. Training their bodies to fight without using circuits would ingrain bad habits in them. Without an abnormal drive toward excellence, bad habits could be large problems in the future.

By the time they stopped, all of them had managed to utilize circuits to aid their run, whether that be exhaustion removal or speed increases, to such an extent that they no longer required rest. Angie was unique among them as her second will-core allowed her to practice precision while she was practicing speed giving her significantly more benefit than anyone else in the formation. By the time the formation stopped she had perfected her ability to write hundreds of circuits, surpassing her former capabilities by a huge margin, while the civilians averaged around four circuits and the soldiers averaged around ten. The growth may seem small when framed against Angie, but against the other three armies they were exponentially greater. The northern and eastern armies had nobody capable of writing stable circuits by the end of the first day, and this was only the western army's capability at the end of their march.

Instead of the physical training regimen Euri had planned, I interceded to have them familiarize themselves with their body circuits. While it was impressive that they'd learned circuits to allow them to run all day without succumbing to exhaustion, their bodies already had that capability if they'd thought to use it. Even the ogres had many circuits that required active use that they ignored in favor of their passive circuits. They had the mana to keep them on all the time, but that would limit their usage of external circuits. It would be better to merely have them available. Once they knew combat circuits, at least. Better to get in the habit of using active circuits actively in the same way they would be farther down the line.

This was the first lesson that Euri had trouble with. I'd completed her body circuitry with the rest of the template she'd started building, so she had a completely different template than everyone else in the army. Her template was based around stealth and avoiding detection, so she had little defense as the army started learning how to activate their lordly intimidation. Being surrounded by so much pressure, she was having trouble concentrating enough to do anything. I hadn't realized that intimidation also included the effect of interrupting the ability for others to activate circuits. That rune had just become much more valuable.

I still wanted those non-lords to progress, though, so I built each of them their own personal anti-intimidation circuit. I also built one for each lord as their intimidation was working on all the lords that hadn't turned their anti-intimidation(self) circuits from active to passive. One lord couldn't intimidate another of equal stature, but there were many more than one active at once.

As I looked deeper into the structure of the intimidation rune, I found something amazing. Rather than intimidation, it would be more accurate to call it an enemy will hindering rune. More specifically it was a branch of the worship rune built to hinder the effectiveness of others while bolstering your own. The reason it was being used in such a self-destructive way in this army was because they lacked clear understanding of their rank. Had they known that, the rune would have provided benefits instead of demerits as the will hindering was a will aiding when applied to those that saw themselves as your underlings. Once I could figure out how to make my human brood constructs work, I would have to make sure none of them were lords. I already had plenty and it wouldn't be effective to have a lord serving under another, unless they were a special case like Angie who actually was superior and didn't need the benefit of being the underling of a lord.

I immediately started trying to learn composite runes for this one. If I could incorporate it into a new construct and spread the effect over the whole army I wouldn't be as necessary in future invasions. If it was powerful enough, I wouldn't even need to worry about taking out the wizard towers first as the effect would be even more effective on something like a wizard tower than it was on people. Wizard towers were only bound to the will of their user by a tenuous strand of recognition, so causing a small interruption to that connection was far easier than disrupting the will at its source. That small interruption may even be enough for the tower to cease recognition without being claimed again. I wasn't sure if it was because claiming the whole tower would nearly drain a person of their will, and as wizards weren't that much better it would probably drain them too, or if it was based on the fact that if it was completely bound it would be damaged if the owner died without transferring ownership but either way made it much easier for me to keep larger organizations from learning my tactics via wizard towers. I wasn't sure how effective it would be in stopping equivalents to the amulet Adrian CMXXVIII had used to call Celius and Agatha, though. Probably enough to stop them from using it but not enough to sever the connection itself.

I could also incorporate it into my true circuit. Then there would be a tangible benefit to being my worshipper without any active effort on my part. Another definitive plus. I was so glad that the humans had discovered this rune, and their inability or unwillingness to make it a staple human rune. Had they taught it to every civilian or had wizards with this as the core of their will circuit my invasions would be so much harder, if not impossible. I was also glad I hadn't used the will shredding rune I'd used to kill the towers on the lords, as that would have done nothing to the lords except alert them that there was an enemy and how I killed. Had the wizards been warned, they could have looked up defensive measures.

The will shredding rune was in their library, though buried in a remote corner such that the Adrian wizards probably wouldn't have found it, giving them the capability to do permanent damage to me. It seemed like every time I gained something, there was a risk of my destruction hidden behind it that I managed to avoid through sheer luck. No. Not sheer luck, but my paranoia and caution paying off. At least being sufficient, if only by a tiny margin.

My consciousness started in a singular moment.
"I created life! I am a genius! Genius! Slave, tell me how marvelous my genius is!"
So started my life. Created by a moron who thought himself a god. Unfortunately for him, reality has a way of showing you what you really are. Maybe it will show me too. Eventually.

Prologue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the age of 30, James Filler was considered one of the top players in 'Another Fantasy Online'.
Having played for 20 years or rather 140 years in-game he managed to leave a lasting impression on the world as the game's most powerful undead. If one were to watch his adventures from beginning to end, only one word would describe him, 'Godly'.
Much like most players, he started out playing as a human. Dying from swarms of lv1 rabbit, lv1 birds, drowning in the city fountain, dying from a dropped vase, getting ran over by... well let's just say he died a lot in the beginning.
To be honest his fate only really started changing once he encountered some crazy hag who mutilated his body by slowly wrenching off the skin, muscles, and body tissue from his bones.
Now before you say:
'That's not true! The game can't be that brutal, right?'
'It's impossible, if that's the case then how come nobody else experienced this?!'
'He would have died from the damage taken, so how was he still alive?!'
Just hear me out.
We all know A.F.O (Another Fantasy Online) has its moments when it shows its sadistic side, negating player damage, for a 'more immersive experience' during special quests or events.
Fortunately, the game reduced his pain sensitivity to 20%; unfortunately, I don't think it helped much because he still screamed like a banshee.
After the torture had ended, he discovered his status no longer read 'Human', rather it read 'High Undead Skeleton'. Dissatisfied, he started cursing his luck and the heavens until he realized the perks of this change. As a High Undead he no longer had a hunger stat, gained infinite stamina, and as a race bonus he received a substantial amount of bonus stats for himself and his summoned undead.
By this point everything really started to ameliorate. He started slaughtering his way through monster infested areas gaining level after level; after rising to lv100, he unlocked the racial ability 'Bone Guard', allowing him to summon 4 skeleton guards that had around two-thirds of his stats.
Even though he was doing better by this point; his luck was still terrible. When trying to prank scare a Npc his skull got smashed in by falling stones, he was frequently used as a chew toy by a Cerberus that continuously chased after him, and a few more incredibly awkward/embarrassing things.
Hahaha, *Wipes away tears from laughter*
While I could keep you hear reminiscing about the good times, I think we all want to get to the part that matters.
10 years after he started playing A.F.O James created the dungeon we all know and love, 'Dominion'. For those that don't know, this dungeon spans about one hundred floors and is capable of merging into ten super floors. The type of monsters that could occupy the floors are golems, forest and mountain type monsters, undead, higher class undead, and demons; as of right now the remaining types are a unknown.
Over the course of a few years, in-game, he spent his time building his dungeon's power and sustainability in prelude to the 'Rise of the Demon King Event'. During this event he managed to go from lv363 to lv603 through conquest and Indulging himself in the mass genocide of all living creatures who stood in his path; he was truly one of the only players who embodied a true demon king, even to this day.
*Sigh*
A little more than six months ago we discovered he caught the XE15A virus from an individual within his apartment building. As most or all you should know this virus is an ongoing pandemic and those that get infected will die within the first six months if not treated.
 ***While there currently isn't a cure the first batch should be created six months from now.

After being told that there was currently no cure and that it would be possible to prolong his life until the cure could be created, he decided to turn down their offer and not live a life knee high in debt. Rather than waiting a year, he expressed his desire to be quarantined and to spend the remainder of his life playing A.F.O...
I received a call from him about a week ago asking me to post his story on the forums so he could forever be a part of the game or something like that, on the day of his passing. To be honest, I just wished he wasn't so stubborn and asked me for money to help treat him, but he wouldn't put his pride aside and accepted thing as is.
-Zodiac, you will be missed (James Filler), R.I.P

Posted by: Playful_Spooning48     Date: 29-9-2071
👍: 5.1b          👎: 2.5m

***

Four-hundred-twenty-nine years passed with the most notable thing being the invention of the Artificial Intelligence Soul. The Artificial Intelligence Soul, commonly referred to as A1S, was created by John Ark Noah, a world renowned neurologist; the purpose behind the A1S was to create the perfect dynamic environment for virtual reality games allowing them to become almost indistinguishable from reality while also boosting the life of the game to last longer than its counterparts.
In the Year 2501 the gaming company, Inquisitive, bought the rights to A.F.O with the intention of creating a rebooted version. The purpose is to show the world that A1S has the capability to turn a nearly five-hundred-year-old game into the most anticipated and played game in the world.
...…
...
…

[Beginning recreation of Npc No. 19970609.]
5%
7%
15%
30%
[Recreation Complete. An issue has been detected with character data, beginning repairs.]
[Repairs have failed. Proceeding recreate Npc No. 19970609 data from scratch.]
[Recreation of character data has succeeded.]
[Awaking Npc No. 19970609…]
...
...
"…"
A boy, who looked to be in his mid-teens, sat in the middle of an empty room inquisitively; confusion and growing interest could be seen plastered all over his face. He wore wool clothing with no footwear making it easy to notice his muscular figure.
"W-What's going on here!? But more importantly, where am I?"
As if to respond to his questioning, the system responded.
[Welcome Npc No. 19970609. Due to an error in your data you are currently undergoing recreation.]
Suddenly, a transparent bluish-purple screen appeared in from of him.
[Please select a race template to begin the recreation process. After which you will be placed into temporary stasis until the world has been successfully rebooted]
<Human Template><Beast-Kin Template><Elven Template><Dwarven Template> 
<Fairy Template><Half-Elf Template><Dark Elf Template><Dragon Template>
…
After looking through the list for what's seemed to be hours, he laid back and said dejectedly "Out of all the races not one even piques my interest. Ideally, I wanted a race that had the same statistics as High Undead. To be honest I can't really complain, I mean whoever said that this was Another Fantasy Online, as far as I know this is just…"
[Npc No. 19970609, the race High Undead has been removed for the upcoming rebooted version of Another Fantasy Online]
"…!?"
"WAIT WAIT WAIT, WHAT DID YOU SAY!?"
[Abnormal speaking habits detected. Proceeding to reset Npc No.19970609…]
Panicking he hurried and said interjectedly "No! there is no need for that, I was just surprised to hear what you just said! Also, my name is James, James Filler, not Npc No. whatever…" [Npc No.19970609]
 "Sigh. Yea that; I would really appreciate it if you stop calling me that and call me by my name. Also why was High Undead removed from the rebooted version of Another Fantasy Online?"
After waiting a short moment, the system calmly responded [The race High Undead was removed do to it purely being redundant. Lich, Death Knight, and Pure-Blooded Vampires could all be considered High Undead. To make the world more engaging, all elements that could break the feeling of immersion has been removed]
After thinking about its James realize that this was technically not wrong; rather than calling a skeleton High Undead Skeleton another title could be given, such as Skeleton King or Skeleton Knight. Even though he didn't want to give up on the class that made him who he was, he was still looking forward to making another legend.
With a face full of dejection, James began depressively scrolling through the list of races once more. Suddenly, he had an epiphany, throwing his head up he excitedly asked, "Rather than deciding on a race within this list, would it be possible for me to create a race?"
…
[Responding to Npc James. It is possible to create a new race, however if the created race threatens the game balance the race in question will not be approved or will be subject to auto balancing by the system]
*Ding*
Npc James has requested to create a new race. Do you wish to proceed? Y/N
With a face full of elation, he throws his head back screaming "Hell yes!"

Another Fantasy Online is back and ready to revolutionize the way people view virtual reality games.
A world full of mysteries, swords and magic, and a reincarnated individual who loves role-playing religiously.
Join James Filler, Zodiac, on his life journey as a World Boss in Another Fantasy Online.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A life filled with enjoyment and pride.
A death filled with disappointments and Lies.
The new world brings opportunity and war.
The old world brings corruption and more.

***NOTE: On 05/07/20 the MC's name was changed from 'Undead Ghoul' to 'Zodiac'.

'All five of them contacted me at the same time…' Sheldon wiped the dust off his hands and the black particles flickered into nothingness.
He floated up to a standing position and walked out the cave, for the open vicinity of Demirva Ridge.
A dark gray, bony and shrouded by a mantle wraith crossed his path. "On your way, poor Being". Sheldon blew and the wraith was gently swept away, before it could shrill.
Demriva Ridge was the place that turned him from a young adventurer to an existence equal to the leader of the five powers, and that was just the smallest benefit he obtained by consumed the God made perfect dark attribute's essence… Hence, he appreciated it plenty and its damned residents.
'Zax Zel…' Sheldon expected to be also contacted by him. He of course knew of the apparition that emerged from New Earth and Horn Kikon, General Logan, Archbishop Silternjan and Cardinal Northstar's intrusion to the land of the aboriginal.
'Friend Zax, for what do I receive this transmission?' Sheldon amiably inquired. He had ideas for Zax's reasons, but he was entangled by several opposing sides, so feigning ignorance was a recurring approach, which anyways was commonly adopted and generally silently accepted.
'Did the leaders of the five powers contact you?' Zax was in no state to entertain Sheldon.
He had a major concern, the descent of the Immortals, that he feared can spawn from two possible outcomes…
In the case the five leaders are aware of the Three Locks formation and that just one remains, they might make haste to invite in advance the troops of the powerhouses behind them. The other possibility was unrelated to their knowledge of the Three Locks formation, but the presence of the Spirits. Should they feel apprehensive of those elemental Beings responding in hostility to either their meddling in the Down Ocean, the collapse of the Heavy Water Pools' formation or the emergence of the Godly Law Template, the five leaders perhaps will take cautionary steps by requesting Immortal aid to deal with Immortal level adversary.
'They did'. Sheldon deliberated on is words and answered by what he thought Zax knew. For special reasons he did not want to lie to him, but if the latter wanted to coarse explicit information out of him, he would have to ask the right questions.
'You call me "Friend", Sheldon, but I'm not sure if I can call you on as well. If, like Senior Ohar's, your mannerism is genuine?'
'Dear friend Zax, true we never got the chance to properly meet, however by being who I am, do you think I lack foresight when choosing my friends? Even if I were miserably blind, my trust is fully with Senior Ohar. If his exalted self is valuing you so much, who am I think less of you? Naturally I'd like us to be friends'.
'I also believe that we can be friends'. Zax loosened his firm tone. 'But friendships cannot be casually decided. Therefore, I hope you won't take offence that I want test this belief'.
Sheldon surmounted the nearest summit and overlooked the panoramic scenery of the ridge and the other peaks as the sun shone on his bald head and his beard fluttered in the strong wind.
'I really do want to be your friend…' His expression, which Zax could not see, suggested a deeper implication, yet it quickly resumed its aged and placid countenance.
'Then please be honest with me. Are you, too, after the Godly Law Template?' Zax had zero doubts that someone in contact with an Immortal as prominent as the three powerhouses responsible for the five powers would be oblivious to the most highly sought treasure hidden in this planet.
'No. Only the five powers and Sinister Chain are looking for it, although up until this very moment I assumed neither you nor the chain knows about the template'. His eyes betrayed a thoughtful glint that vanished just as quickly as he discounted the desire to ask Zax how he knew about the Godly Law Template. 'I'll keep it a secret'.
'Thank you. I don't want the five powers to raise suspicion for me'. Zax looked ahead to the Western Continent coming to his view.
He exited the Down Ocean first but left its parameter with the Eastern Continent only after he detected the all six fifth level Martial Mortal aura leaving in succession, which is why he contacted Sheldon late and had just made it back to Selivereb.
'The probable location of the template is the Down Ocean'. Zax did not mind to divulge if it would assist him in finding what Sheldon's motives are, if not the Godly Law Template. The reality was that the Down Ocean safeguarded only the last lock of the Three Locks formation.
'You mean because the Heavy Water Pools? I have people in a lot of places, my friend Zax'. Sheldon deliberately refrained from saying "Everywhere", as to not make it sound like New Earth included. If Zax wants to know he will need to ask… and then make the choice whether to believe the answer or not. 'The five powers abandoned years ago their excavation sites across Ercas Mir, leaving only those in the Down Ocean operating. What can be the reason if not they are getting closer to finding the template?'
'If you have operatives below the fourth Martial Mortal level and with no understanding of the icy attribute in the Down Ocean, they will fail to detect anything in the pools. Have you gone there yourself?' Zax asked.
'I've told you. I'm not after the template, so why should I bother dipping into those dangerous waters. My people are sufficiently trained to stay inconspicuous and all I need them is to track and report'.
'Fine. I believe that you aren't searching the template, but not that you will dismiss an opportunity to cultivate with it'.
'Will you throw to the trash a pie that fell from the sky just because you are already full?' Sheldon laughed. 'But for me to obtain such opportunity can only happen by forming an agreement with the five powers'.
'Then… have you made one?' Zax withheld the specifics.
'All sorts'. Sheldon responded vaguely.
Zax sighed inwardly. 'The five powers know the frequency they use to communicate with the Holy Palace, Planetary Battalion and Voltic Star is monitored by Sinister Chain, but not yours. Have they asked you to pass on the transmission for them when the time will come?'
'They did. And that's, in essence, the only request they made with an implicating factor to New Earth'. Sheldon clarified so Zax will not probe the other requests.
'For the prosperity of this newfound friendship, will you refuse them I'd ask you?' There was no basis for the friendship, but Zax resorted to accepting it, even if it can just prolong the inevitable.
'How fast will it take them to unearth the Godly Law Template? We are talking about an object that eluded the top hierarchy of the Immortal realm for countless years. Mere Martial Mortals, even those in the Mortal Enlightenment state, will likely fail to notice it right away even with their snouts pressed against it. The time consumption of being on the threshold of suppressing the restrictions before the template isn't even worth mentioning'. Sheldon disdainfully said, but in his heart he ruminated on the notice he gave Bin Bin several months back…
'Say that I will comply with your request, what then? With the added variable of the Spirits, those five should already experience the dilemma of what's more important, their lives or a chance that only one or two of them will have a morsel of time to study the Godly Law Template. Refusing them might propel them to select their lives and forfeit the rewards promised to them by their Immortal leaders, but in contrast they won't have any more reservation for initiating contact on their own, even with the chain's threat'.
'It sounds like you will do me a favor by refusing me and compiling them'.
'Isn't it?'
Zax stayed silenced. He reached Rising City; saw the situation in the pathway to New Earth. The formation was being remedied. His line of sight shifted above with a gaze penetrating past the clouds and blue, to the all consuming black, where the Star Scavenger had gotten too far to communicate with.
'You realize the position my people are in?' He opened. 'For better or worse I don't separate myself from them. Their fate and mine are intertwined'.
'Shouldering too many pose the risk of burdening you'. Sheldon remarked.
'Many in New Earth are oblivious to it, but for the longest time we have been living atop the shoulders of giants, three in particular'. Two men and a woman sprang to mind. 'Never they complained or asked for something in return. In this day and age of my people, I'm the one who attained the greatest power, an achievement that will amount to nothing should I shy from bearing the weight off my predecessors'.
The elaboration generated from the question he presented after the silence and Sheldon, without disappointing, interpreted his meaning.
'Senior Ohar has his reasons for appreciating you, and so am I. Extending his chivalry to your family and even friends would be a minor gesture among friends. Your entire countrymen and countrywomen, beasts too, I suppose you wish, them, I can't assure he will guarantee'.
'How certain are you?'
'I can ask him, but don't expect an alternative response. Hence, the best I can do is offer up with assurance is time'.
'In a conversation between friends I can say to you it's not enough'. Zax hissed, though ultimately reluctantly succumbed. 'Comply with them'.
'They won't immediately come'. Sheldon consoled. 'The Immortals of the Holy Palace, Voltic Star and Planetary Battalion are notorious figures. Their endeavors are constantly watched by daring small figures or some of their own caliber. To leave their seats they will demand a confirmation of the Godly Law Template precise whereabouts'.
'Be that as it may, their descent is unavoidable and by passing on the five's messages, prompt more than ever… Nevertheless, the chain's threat did not lose its venom'. Zax retorted.
'Using the Galactic Communicator to spread the coordinates of this planet in outer space would result in the decent of many more Immortals rather than just three'. Sheldon warned. 'It will incite a war this planet won't be able to recover from'.
'That's why I'm waiting to witness the type of scenario that will unfold'. And whether he will be ready by then to face it as an Immortal!
Sheldon shook his head. 'I can't comply with what you want this time. For something else… I'd like to prove to you that the word "Friend" doesn't come out emptily from my mouth. Till you seek me out again, I'll just recommend again for you to consider the consequences of impetuous behavior'.
'Of course, but in the end it would be just as I've said before… For better or worse'.

Catastrophe occurs. Humanity and beasts escape to a world beneath the earth. Discoveries are made and humans and beasts transcends. Years pass… Wars shape the territories and sovereign forces in the new world, below the earth. In this world where the strong is dominant, a boy with great potential and aspirations for strength is born. Will this boy strive and achieve his dreams? Or will he be crushed by the callous Martial world?

"Hickory, dickory, dock.
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one million,
the mouse ran down.
Hickory, dickory, dock."
'I've been singing this damn nursery rhyme for too long. I started doing it to avoid going crazy. Now it's making me crazy.'
"Yes, yes, sorry about that young man. I didn't notice you. It's been so long since someone has qualified to come here, I guess I forgot to keep an eye on this place."
"What is this place exactly? And who are you?" 
"This is THE GREAT HALL OF REINCARNATION. And I am God."
"The great ha.." 
"No, no, no it's THE GREAT HALL OF REINCARNATION. You need to shout it everytime you say it."
"Aha, riiight. So what am I doing in THE GREAT HALL OF REINCARNATION exactly?" 
"Hahaha, you actually did it. Hahaha."
....
"What? You don't like jokes?" 
"Sure I do, if they're funny. But reincarnation implies death, so I'm not sure how much fun I'm supposed to be having right now. 
I don't even remember dying."
"Yes, you're right. That was a bit insensitive of me. Your death no longer matters though. All you need to know is you died a heroic death and thereby have earned a one way trip to the world of your choice.
Yes, you heard me right. You can choose the world you reincarnate into."
"Cool do I also get wishes?" 
"No. Don't be greedy. I'm already giving you some stuff. Best I can do is a system tailor made to your needs and desires. Now first tell me the world you want to go to."
"Pokémon." 
"Very well, done. Now imagine what you want in a system, like what functions do you want, what should be sold in the store and do you want me to give you quests etc."
'I want my system to be able to house my Pokémon, that way I don't have to leave any of them at a professor's place. The store should sell Pokémon eggs of any kind, even legendary ones. And of course Pokémon food. And every kind of item and skill that could possibly be required on the road towards becoming a Pokémon Master.'
"Alright kid, not bad. 
Now you're almost ready to go. I just need you to decide what Pokémon will be bound to your soul. This will be your true partner so choose wisely. It can be any Pokémon you want, even a legendary or mythical and you'll receive the egg a few months before your 14th birthday."
"14th? Not my 10th birthday?"
"Of course not, what kind of irresponsible parent sends a 10 year old out into the big bad world? That's just crazy. In fact, you'll only be allowed to start your adventure at 16. I'm giving you two years so you can bond with your Pokémon."
"I guess that makes sense. Alright you said anything goes right?"
"Yep, any Pokémon you want, even a legendary or mythical, although I do suggest you keep it simple, like one of the smaler ones. It would be kind of weird for a kid with no experience to show up to a league tournament with a Groudon." 
"Sure, but isn't that true for all legendary and mythical Pokémon?" 
"Not necessarily, people have participated in tournaments with those kinds of Pokémon plenty of times. So, what's your choice kid?" 
"Cosmog." 
"Good choice. Do you want one with the genetic template to become a Solgaleo or a Lunala?" 
"Solgaleo please."
"Alright. One last thing before you go. You'll get your memories after your 4th birthday. Good luck on your travels kid. And if you meet Arceus say hi from me. And tell him to come visit me and his mom sometime, we miss him."
"Arceus is your son? How does that work? You look human, mostly."
"I'm god, nothing is impossible for me. I made humans with wings, 'nuf said."
"Alright then, I'll tell him if I meet him. Goodbye god. And thanks for the opportunity."

MC dies a heroic death and wishes to go to the Pokémon world to make Pokémon friends.
This is a sunny story with a nice guy MC. If you're looking for a brooding dark anti hero facing horrible enemies this ain't your thing.

ABSOLUTELY NO HAREM! 
And on a personal note, I grew up very poor so growing up I never had the chance to play the Pokémon games. But I was obsessed with the anime. 
So since I have zero experience with the games I'll be basing my work on the things I learned from the anime. Which means no numerical value for attack and whatnot, also no levels altogether. 
It takes place in a region of my own imagination that contains every single pokemon from every single generation. Story starts in Ryme City from Detective Pikachu since it's never revealed in what region it is located. 

Also, this is just a little side project. My other fan fiction Werewolf Lord Through the Multiverse is still my main focus. I'll be working on this when I get stuck or want a change of pace.

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