1 Nightmare begins

In an apartment, a man in his early twenties was on his gaming laptop. While it was a cheap one, it handled games well, and he was not playing any game but Dark Souls 3.

He was currently stuck on one of the hardest bosses, Nameless King. He had already beaten the game many times, but for some reason, the RNG on the boss was making him mad, and in the end, he gave up because he was tired and had not slept in 2 days.

He was a miserable man, just living in his parents' house and earning just enough to not be kicked out. For all purposes, he was depressed, a loser with no friends and no job, doing freelance work here and there. However, he preferred it this way than to be a slave to a company, surrounded by other slaves and bootlickers.

So, even though he was a loser, he took pride in being a normal, good person who did the world no harm. "It is what it is" was his motto, and he lived going with the flow.While he was now lying on the bed with heavy eyes already crusted, he couldn't sleep.

It was unknown why, even though he had been awake for 2 days. Well, it was pretty normal for him. He couldn't even remember the last time he had a sleep schedule. So, he took his phone and went ahead on a novel site to read the latest chapter of his favorite web novel, "Shadow Slave." It was already so late at night, and he wanted to save chapters, but he thought one or two can't harm him.

So, he started to read.However, he had a problem with hyperfocus, where once he started to read, he couldn't stop. So, it is what happened. The night went by, and the day came, and soon it was noon again. But the man was glued to his screen, his eyes burning, and his body in full pain. Being overweight, it was nothing new to him.

He slowly put his phone down, eyes too heavy to keep open, but his chest was in dull pain, and his mind was foggy. He was finished with all the chapters in his treasure chest, so he slowly fell asleep.But as he finally went to sleep, he was woken up again.

Not in his room, though, but with a voice in some distant place. He was fully awake and freaked out because he was not in his room but in a weird space. He got his bearings fast together and was met with a voice he instantly recognized. How could he not? He was an antisocial nerd. He recognized his current position really fast, as he had heard and read about it.

{Asperient Asmon, welcome to your first nightmare. Prepare.}

the voice said, and he was pulled into his first nightmare without even having a chance to say anything. Now he stood and couldn't move.

He saw a mountain with a village near it and people who looked like a warrior tribe going about their day, talking in a strange language. He saw time move strangely as the mounts reached into the sky, looking more and more terrific, and slowly, nightmare creatures attacked the tribe.

They fought with all they had.It was a massive battle that looked deadly from where he was standing. In the end, time moved fast, and slowly, the tribe was wiped out. He, who witnessed it, was left in cold dread. He had seen brave warriors, kids, and their mothers fight with all they had and die in the fight, wiped out by the vile creatures.

He was now pulled faster, and suddenly he was in this village or tribe, not as an adult but a teen. He slowly came to his senses and fell to his knees. He was not some warrior or a hard person; he was just a loser who was dragged into this.

But still, he was now here.He caught himself not on his own, though. It was now a different voice he heard and looked up. Now there was a system, and his eyes fell on the words written there.

{"Dark Souls System Online - Owner: Asmon."}

He could not believe it. Not only was he now in his first nightmare from a fictional book, but he also had a system, and not just any system, but a Dark Souls related one. He went ahead and read about it.

He was met with other information.Well, he got the gist of it. He could challenge any mod or boss from the Dark Souls series, even Elden Ring. If he could beat them, he would not only be able to gain their weapon but the defeated foe as a slave or an echo? Or he could defeat them and use their souls to gain soul fragments.

There was a number screen in his system showing 0 soul fragments. From what he could tell, he could either buy weapons from the shop or use it to level up. It was very Dark Souls-like with INT, VIG, etc. It was a lot to take in, but in the end, he had to do something. So, he let out a silent curse, damnation