1 1. Fritz Desmond

A group of adventurers was peacefully walking towards the gloomy forest under the silvery moonlight. Where fierce and ferocious beasts dwelled and were scattered every night. The group takes on a rank C quest from the adventurers' guild. Their group consists of 5 humans. A cleric, a thief, a tank, a warrior, and a mage. It's a 2:3 ratio of women and men. The cleric's a woman with an average type of items. The thief's a man equipped with a cloak that hides its appearance from the others. Their tank's a big man worn with the hardest steel plates. Their warrior's pretty experienced and, their mage specializes in two elements which are wind and fire.

Amidst the forest, the group continued on their path. Until suddenly, daggers were thrown to them from their blind spot. Their thief took care of the daggers, dashed through it, and defended his comrades. The attackers revealed themselves. They were a bunch of scavengers who killed other adventurers and looted them afterward. They were hiding from the trees' trunks. About 8 of them were waiting for them to enter the forest. Their thief had noticed it since the beginning.

"Seems like there's someone mixed in with the idiots," one of the scavengers said mockingly. They were wearing masks to hide their identities and cloaks. The group of adventurers prepared themselves for the upcoming battle. The group between the two clashed together.

---

With the help of their thief, the adventurer's group managed to fend off the group of scavengers. He wanted to get rid of them. Humans tend to take revenge in the face of utter humiliation. Pride will still prevail. His comrades told him to let go of them and forget about them. All of the scavengers who tried to gang up on them ran away. Because of that incident, tonight's hunt was canceled, so everyone called it a day. The other 4 went home and, he remained in the forest.

"Don't even think I'd let you guys go," he said to himself. His tone filled with malice. He sprinted towards the direction where he last saw the scavengers. "Time to finish what you fuckers started."

Generating Skills...

'Trail'

'Haste'

8+ more skills had been successfully generated.

Earlier, he had put a dart to each and every one of the scavengers. That was to know where they had gone to. "Found you!" He dashed towards the panting earlier enemy. Quietly went behind him and slit its throat. He then scooted over the others and, he ended up killing all of them under the silvery moonlight. Their screams as they agonized over the pain inflicted by the injuries were like music to his ears. And as they plead for their life, begging to be spared. That's the most addicted thing he enjoys the most.

***

Video gaming reached mainstream popularity in the 1970s and 1980s when arcade video games, gaming consoles, and home computer games were introduced to the general public. The first interactive electronic game with an electronic display was first played in 1947. The first true video games were created in the early 1950s. Video games also became the purview of academic research. Possibly the first video game created simply for entertainment was 1958's Tennis for Two. Spacewar! was one of the earliest known digital computer games to be available outside a single research institute.

The term "video game" has evolved over the decades from a purely technical definition to a general concept defining a new class of interactive entertainment. The first video games appeared in the early 1950s. They were tied largely to research projects at universities and large corporations, though, and had little influence on each other. The ancestors of these games include the cathode-ray tube amusement device, the earliest known interactive electronic game. The earliest known written computer game was developed by A in the 1960s. It was the first to use an electronic logic circuit. And was designed to simulate an artillery shell trajectory on a CRT screen connected to an oscilloscope, with a set of knobs and switches. The device was patented in 1947, but the patent, the first for an electronic game, was never used. (Source: Wikipedia)

Gym materials, amount of dirty clothes had formed, leftover food was scattered inside a typical 1 DK Japanese Apartment. You heard right. A typical sitting room or bedroom will be 6 to 8 tatami mats. Each mat is 3 by 6 feet. So a typical 6 tatami room will measure 108 square feet. Once you put television and bed in a typical 1K room, there's only walking space left. If you will be working for a chain school, like Geos, ECC, or Aeon, you'll more than likely have a 1K or 1DK. So, our protagonist, Fritz Desmond, is an American immigrant in Japan.

He decided to live here in Japan 10 years ago. His parents were both Americans. He was 20 years old at that time. The reason why he decided to live here was because of their 'games.' Be it video games, offline or online. He's been addicted to video games ever since he was 7. When his mother gave him a Gameboy.

Right now, he just finished 12 hours straight of gaming. With only ramen as his food and some bottled water. He's been grinding two days ago, playing the famous game 'Arcadia's Realm.' It's an MMORPG. An event had started two days ago. That's why he's grinding, for levels and for items. Having been reached the max level, the game had a recent patch that released new items and additional 100 levels. And now that he had reached the max level, again, he'll once again move to another game. He won't be satisfied with playing just one game for a long time. He'll eventually get tired of it and look for another game since all of it can easily be conquered by him.

"No nutting for a month? That was an easy task to do! You just need to make yourself always busy. By what? By playing online games!" Fritz burst into laughter. He felt his eyelids getting heavy and, his eyes narrowed to where the bed was. He started towards it and lay lazily on it. He then fell into a deep slumber.

Fritz awoke after a long deep sleep. It was afternoon and, his growling stomach forced him out of his bed. He browses through his refrigerator. He found three eggs, a pack of bacon, and some cucumber. He then cooked the food he found. After cooking, he prepared the food for his table, poured a glass of milk and, it's itadakimasu!

Done eating Fritz, began cleaning his house. Every nook and cranny of his house has been wiped off the dust. He threw all of his garbage too. It was a tiring day, but even though he was so tired, he didn't forget his daily exercises. Light exercises; lifting dumbbells and using his treadmill.

"And who said gamers are just NEETs' who sat in front of the computer screen and played all day?" He said as he caught his breath. He lost track of time and, it was already 8 in the evening when he finished all of the chores. He rested for a bit before hitting the shower.

He wore his usual clothes, started towards the door, and went to the convenience store to buy his dinner.

---

The next day Fritz's house became airy after he cleaned yesterday. Gone are the garbage and piles of dirty clothes. There was nothing left to do inside his house. He opened his computer and searched the site where he could sell RPG items for real money. That's how he makes a living out of gaming. Someone was interested in the items he posted for sale and wanted to have a meet-up with him to discuss matters. He changed into his favorite t-shirt with a print of Taiga Aisaka--for him, she's the best girl of all time. Jeans and stylish sneakers. He went on his way to the meeting place.

Nearly after two hours of commuting by train from Sendai, Fritz finally arrived in Tokyo. He went directly to Shinjuku City, wasting no time. He's famished and wanted lunch as soon as possible. The buyer said he'll treat him to lunch. That's why he didn't eat lunch at home. Tokyo's pretty crowded when it's rush hour. An innumerable amount of company workers go in and out of restaurants and coffee shops. They both agreed to meet in a restaurant at exactly 12:30.

Fritz entered an Italian-style restaurant and searched for the buyer inside. There was such a nice vibe in the restaurant's ambiance. He immediately spotted the buyer based on the details he gave Fritz what his clothes would be. Sitting in a chair beside the window. He was waving at him, so he had no choice but to wave reluctantly. Strode through the crowd and sat in a chair in front of the buyer.

They exchanged greetings and decided to order first before discussing the matters. After two minutes of searching through the menu, both finally decided what to order. For Fritz, an antipasto dish, bruschetta has grilled bread topped with veggies, rubbed garlic, and tomato mix. A country bread sliced and topped with different toppings - the evergreen tomato-basil and an inventive mushroom-garlic. The classic Italian starter! And for Ryan, the buyer, a simple Roman pasta dish derives its name from 'carbon meaning coal. It was a pasta popular with the coal miners. The original recipe calls for guanciale, which is pig's cheek, but since it's not easily available, the chef has used bacon instead.

Shortly after an hour, Ryan's discussion with Fritz ended in bliss. All of the items he looted for the past 2 days, Ryan bought of it. Because of that, he got a 20 percent discount. He's like a merchant who makes money out of items he bought from players and sells it to other players who require stronger items. Fritz bid farewell to him and started towards the door.

"I've earned just about the money I need for a month's expenses," he had Ryan transfer the money through his bank account. He can't afford to walk with a large sum of money in his pocket. "Now that there's no more problem I need to think of. All that's left to do is to clean my pipe. Right! You gotta keep the pipe clean!"

He's dilly-dallying around the Shinjuku City, trying to get a hook-up with someone who was willing to have a one-night stand with him. If it's about looks we're talking about, Fritz can be good-looking too. Definitely tall, has well-built muscle and ocean-blue eyes that can melt any woman. Even though he's American, his hair was black, unlike his mother, who was a blonde.

The day was still young and, the sun was still scorching because summer was just around the corner. 'Where are the hoes? I guess it's still too early...' He thought to himself as he dragged his lazy feet to an arcade.

---

Fritz wasted time inside an arcade for hours and still wasn't tired of playing. But then he was forced to stop as his stomach growls at him said: "Feed me! Don't waste money on such mental happiness! Make it physical!" That's when he remembered that he was looking for a hook-up because he totally forgot about it. He quickly gets his ass moving and rush towards a nearby convenience store to sate his hunger.

"Hey, are you alone?" A punk-looking man in his late 20's said when he stopped a girl who was standing in front of the sidewalk. She seems like she's waiting for someone.

She became aware of the two presentations of a man standing in front of her and the others behind her. People seldom walk around the area when it's already dark. Lately, there were reports of a passerby who got robbed of their money and valuable things. The man behind her put his arm around her shoulder that made her flinch in surprise.

"Uhh, I'm waiting for someone," she took a step back, distancing herself from the two. Fritz quickly hide his presence upon seeing them.

The two quickly followed her steps. The two drew out their knives, one grabbed her hands and threatened her to stab if she ever made a noise. The streetlight showered them with light. Fritz got a hold of their faces and, he immediately recognized the girl.

'Isn't that Alice? I've met her before when Arcadia's Realm top players attend a party. They also hold an auction. But, what is she doing here? I thought she lives in Kyoto?'

Hiding in a bush, Fritz jumped out and smacked the robber in the head with whatever thing he had picked up when he was hiding. With the force of his beating, the robber flew meters away and released the knife he was holding.

"Wh-who are you?! S-stay back!" the robber exclaimed. His arm tightened around her neck and, the knife pressed on her flank, she bled. She was wearing a frock-style kurti.

She glanced at Fritz's face and recognized him as well. He winked at her and, she instantly knew what he meant by that. She used the back of her head to headbutt the robber. She put all force she could and aimed for the nose.

His arm loosened around her, aiding his nose. She promptly moved away from the robber. Fritz lunged towards the man swung the garbage can be picked up directly to the robber's face. Alice straight away went to his back and glanced at the robber lying on the sidewalk. Fritz's eyes narrowed to where the other one was lying and, when he saw the man had disappeared, he searched around. The robber was hiding behind them with the knife in its hand. He ran towards them. Alice noticed, pushed Fritz as she blocked the knife. A truck beeped, the headlights flashed through Fritz's eyes and narrowed to the stabbed Alice. The robbers took her belongings and ran away. And that's the last thing he saw when he eventually got rammed by the truck.

Inside Fritz's apartment, his computer had been left open. Arcadia's Realm suddenly loaded and opened itself. Then a message from the game came in saying: "Congratulations! You, Frits, have been chosen as one of the many players who will be migrating to the so-called Arcadia's Realm! Good luck on your journey!"

---

Fritz awoke in the midst of blinding light. Left with nothing but only his manhood, he covered his eyes from the bright luminescence. He began wandering aimlessly in an unending path that led to nothingness. He was still suffering from the accident he had. He could feel his whole sore body. Something inside his mind was bugging him; he forgot to delete his computer history.

"What is it that you wish?" A sudden voice filled his head that he had promptly answered the question.

"I want to destroy my PC," the words came out of his mouth, unaware of where the voice had come from.

"As you wish..." Fritz's computer suddenly went on fire. Only the computer 

set was burning despite the crazy blaze of fire swarming the whole set. 

"There. Oh, and you're not supposed to be here."

A black hole swallowed him whole. He screamed, wondering where he was. Then he felt fell down. He gasped, trying to catch his breath. His heart beating crazily. Scorching heat disturbed his trying to calm their body and mind. The strong smell of smoke was inhaled by him. He nearly choke himself. That was when he realized that the whole place was burning. Someone was crying and clinging onto his arms and, two people were speaking in front of him. Their expressions were grim and worried.

"Esecleus! Esecleus! Are you listening? The ogres are coming!" Fritz recognized the woman in front of her. Esecleus' memories were passed down to his mind. The woman's the mother of the body he'd been reincarnated to. And the man was Esecleus' father. "You need to escape! We'll stall time for you and Allesha!" He was shoved to the path they needed to go. Their eyes were saying farewell as they ran towards the savage ogres who were violating the woman and killing the males. Due to humans' powerful forces, ogres' numbers had greatly decreased in the past years. 

Leaving them a few female ogres to breed with. Now, they are destroying small villages and capturing women to plant their seeds. But was it possible? I dunno...

[Emergency quest!]

[Escape the ogres' invasion and leave!]

[Difficulty: C]

[Rewards: Mutton, Blemish Dagger, 1,000 Exp.]

Fritz's mind was in a mess, trying to discern what was going on. He thought really hard when there was no need to. Then his confused mind concluded that he had been reincarnated and he was in real danger. His body moved on its own, dragging along Allesha with him, who wouldn't stop crying. Allesha's not Esecleus' sister but the daughter of his mother's friend who recently died.

"For some reason," he muttered to himself, "this whole thing is making me excited!"

~