1 Hardcore

"What a boring day!" Nathen sighed lightly, waiting in front of the zebra crossing with many other people.

He was holding a plastic bag; in it were energy drinks and some groceries.

Nathen, looking at the kid beside him who was playing a game on the Nintendo 3DS, couldn't help but wonder. 'I think I am going to play Pokemon Nuzlocke with only one type challenge, or I could do some other challenge in Dark Souls.'

While Nathen was considering what type of gaming challenge he would do after going home, a mother with her three-year-old girl came to his other side.

They also waited for the signal to turn green.

Ring…

Suddenly her phone rang out from inside her bag. She let go of her girl's hand and opened the bag to pick up the phone.

At that time, a butterfly flew out of the tree that was on the sidewalk. It flew past the girl, instantly catching her attention. The butterfly flew into the zebra cross, making the girl also follow it.

Nathen's eye also caught the butterfly, and luckily, the girl too. He was about to slowly say something, but his eyes caught another thing, and that was a bus.

The bus was coming at a fast speed, and it would hit the girl at any time.

Nathen, reflexively, let go of the bag in his hand and jumped forward.

Grab

Grabbing the girl by the arm, he threw her backward.

"Huh?" Then a sudden realization came about what he had done.

BANG

The front of the bus hit Nathen's body hard, making him lose consciousness immediately.

Crash!

The driver, in a hurry, was trying his hardest to turn the bus, which made it crash into a tree. Fortunately, no passenger was heavily injured.

But Nathen was not that fortunate. He was lying on the ground, bleeding all over. His eyes were still open. However, he felt his eyes getting drowsy every second.

He had only one thought in his mind. 'I hope my little brother gives mom some happiness, that I couldn't give.'

In a bus accident, Nathen Hollander died.

'Hmm'

Nathen suddenly woke up. 'Was that a dream?'

Nathen fully opened his eyes and was shocked to numb seeing the scene before his eyes.

There was a gigantic tree that's length could not be measured sitting in empty space. Its roots stretched in many directions and held onto bright blinding lights that looked like stars. Its leaves were the size of such length, that Nathen didn't know the number.

The thing that felt more unreal for Nathen was seeing small, glistening fruits hanging from branches of various sizes. But these fruits were smaller or just a tidbit bigger than apples. They were of many colors, too.

'What the hell is this place!?' Nathen didn't know what to say. He had imagined many places in his mind and many weird things to see after his death.

But this… this made him speechless!

He looked down at his body just to see his original, skinny body while being butt naked.

He turned around in every direction and panicked. 'What do I do? Will I stay at this place forever? Please at least let me go to the afterlife, God. I don't mind going to hell.'

Nathen in the first couple of minutes panicked but later he calmed down when he found that he could actually walk.

Nathen gazed at the towering tree and decided in his mind to go there.

He first ran because, through his eyes, he saw that the tree was not far away. But after running for twenty minutes straight, the distance stayed the same.

'What kind of joke is this?' Nathen lay down on the invisible floor and gasped for breath. 'I ran for so long, but the distance isn't closing between us. Is this a kind of spatial manipulation I read about in novels?'

Nathen got up and sat on the ground. 'Then is my effort all pointless?'

Nathen had the thought of giving up, but he remembered the feeling of hard challenges in games and in real life sometimes. 'No! I am going to complete this task that I took upon myself. Maybe I have actually advanced, it's just maybe my perception of space is messed up.'

He stood up and started sprinting again. 'I hope those fantasies were right. I would take back all the things I had said about writing harem.'

1 hour

12 hour

24 hour

1 day

Months… Years… Decades…

100 years…

'Huh, It feels like I have finally advanced a little.' Nathen looked ahead just to feel like he was a bit closer.

Nathen had now tight-knitted muscles, a more better body proportion. His hair didn't grow, it stayed the same, and so did his age. He hadn't eaten anything, but the energy in his body would replenish itself slowly. However, his eyes were filled with the memories of so many years.

In these years, he did many things despite running. It was to get rid of boredom. He tried too many stunts, tried self-martial arts training, sang, danced, everything he could, he tried.

He didn't become a master at them but through self-practicing and many years to learn about his mistakes, he gained many experiences.

Nathen started his sprint again. He had decided he would reach his destination. It was just because he wanted to drive his body. He didn't like to feel bored.

Before he died, he mostly got bored with anything. He was extremely talented at sports. So, he didn't have any challenges when he learned all the basics of any sport.

And then he found games. He wasn't a fan of games since child. He thought those were just childish things.

But, through his little brother, he finally played a game one day. And that was the time he finally struggled. Struggled to achieve victory easily.

Still, he was able to master everything and came in the same cycle.

However, one day on the internet he found some speed runs and challenges. He also went to do it but he failed miserably. Then he failed, failed, and failed again. But that didn't make him quit.

Instead, it made him discover and fall in love with "Hardcore Gaming".

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