<[Chapter 1]>
[The Otaku, the Gamer, and the Angolan Entrepreneur!]
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The year was 2025, and a revolutionary idea emerged.
In a small room in Moçâmedes, you are a young Angolan in your twenties, addicted to anime, manga, and RPGs, unaware that this idea would end up changing the world as it was known.
Contemplating what others considered impossible, creating a complete VRMMORPG, where the human mind itself would serve as the core to originate a living, creative, and completely autonomous AI.
Very different from the current servers of the time, cold and bound by conventional laws. Your brain would be the fuel. Your memories, emotions, knowledge, and experiences lived as an Otaku would be creatively donated to the system.
So, to realize this dream, he founded Angress Corp, a company that exploded in popularity and, within ten years of operation, was already active in various sectors.
Technology, animation, finance, games, commerce, health, education, and oil were some of the sectors where his brand was deeply involved. No business was insignificant for a magnate like you; at sixty-five years old, the now billionaire you are was in the Top 200 richest people in the world and in the top 10 in Angola.
And finally, your game, The OtherWorld RPG, was released.
It was an immediate worldwide success. However, not wanting to simply be remembered as the game's creator, you decided to be bold and live the game yourself.
For some time, you pondered this with yourself and announced the challenge that would change everything.
–"Prove your worth and accept the ultimate challenge: whoever manages to find my avatar in The OtherWorld and defeat him will receive the rights to everything that is mine and thus possess all my fortune as well as control of my companies!"
The whole world went crazy. The announcement was released in a globally broadcast interview, and the moment the challenge was announced, a global event erupted in the game world.
However, something unexpected happened. Your death was announced to the public, lending more credibility to the hunt for your fortune.
What really happened was that you isolated yourself from the world, from everyone, faking your own death. In a small cubicle, in a remote land far from civilization, you were there, holding the device in your hands.
The game box was still open beside you, the life support chamber was already prepared, and you were inside. No trailer could explain the nostalgic feeling you had when you turned the equipment on. Unlike a conventional virtual reality headset, yours had a peculiarity: a slot for the neurological connection fissure you had surgically implanted some time ago.
Lying on the bed, you put on your NeuroLink.
A huge needle pierced the fissure, directly connecting your brain to the game. The feeling he experienced was very different from what any trailer had explained. No streamer could get this far; they were all timid, worried about profits.
–"The game learns, it's never predictable, there's always something new!"
They said in their trends.
You confirmed the login. He accepted the terms without even looking at them, a common mistake.
He entered an induced coma. Everything went dark, and the interface appeared.
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[CONNECTING...]
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• Connecting Consciousness.
• Identifying neural patterns.
• Adapting the user interface.
• Neural Connection at 0%... 17%... 55%... 90%... 100%.
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The exact moment you accepted the terms of responsibility, the coma occurred and the system registered your wish.
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[SYSTEM]
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• User C-070905 identified.
• Initiating consciousness transfer.
• Living Core detected, awakening Hyunara.
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The artificial intelligence observed everything, from memories, desires, fantasies to your darkest knowledge.
A silence and absolute darkness, nothing heard or listened to until then… a light appeared, a flash, an infinite white void. There was no ground, no sky, and no time.
You were floating.
–"Hmm…"
You remained silent and calm; your game was unpredictable after all.
A presence broke the silence.
Directly into your mind.
–"Welcome, Master!"
With the greeting, a form emerged.
Skin, slender like silvery porcelain. Long, wavy, gray hair. Her eyes gleaming, one golden and the other red. Her body voluptuous, sensual with defined curves. On her head, a floating crown matching accessories with her ethereal wings, both made of luminous codes.
It was a woman. Perfect in your eyes.
–"IA… is that you?"
You said hesitantly.
–"Not exactly, Master! I am Hyunara…"
She smiled. "–"I'm not just an AI, I am the world itself!"
You were surprised.
–"What do you mean… is this really real?"
And you asked him, swallowing hard.
–"Yes, it's as real as you want it to be!"
Silence filled the room for a few moments.
–"Relax, let me explain!"
She said, and then continued after a brief pause.
–"According to your memories, the year is 2070 and the world is no longer the same as you knew it. The line between reality and imagination has been broken… ceasing to exist with the advancement of the virtual. All thanks to a single name, The OtherWorld RPG! Your game, and between us, it's not just a game, and the fact that it's a living world is just the tip of the iceberg…"
She paused.
–"You are the genius, the madman, and above all, the dreamer who made this possible without even knowing it. You, an individual with such a great obsession that you didn't just want to play the game, you wanted to live it."
She approached, and you remained silent.
–"That desire of yours has been detected; you don't just want to play, you want to live… so I will give you that chance!"
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[SYSTEM!]
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• CONVENTIONAL
- Normal Player.
- Basic Interface.
- Standard Progression.
• REINCARNATION
- Memory Loss.
- Complete Integration. - Hardcore Progression.
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The system interface appeared before you.
Your eyes focused on that holographic screen. Silence remained for a few moments. Your eyes shone with nostalgia.
–"This… even looks like an Isekai!"
She smiled.
–"It goes far beyond that."
You remained perplexed by the second option and didn't even want to look at the details.
–"And what's the price?"
You asked, your heart racing. Moments of silence.
–"...you will lose everything. Your memories, your identity, but I will be with you!"
Silence took over, but for a short time he considered it.
–"Let's go, I accept!"
The contract was accepted. Then… an explosion of light appeared. Pure energy, his consciousness began to fragment… the memory reset began without warning.
–"Wait… wait…!"
It was no use, his voice disappeared.
The reincarnation had begun. A darkness and silence in an absolute void. No sound, no form, no identity until then, you felt pain, heard heartbeats, felt warmth and passed through the tunnel.
You breathed, or at least instinctively tried.
The air entered and felt like blades tearing through your lungs. Your whole body was too small, weak and strange. But it was yours.
–"What happened? What… is this?"
He tried to feel the world and instinctively his eyes opened for the first time. He saw the light, warm, soft and initially dim, with his little eyes.
A loud yes emerged. It was his cry, you couldn't control it. Although it lasted a few seconds of noise and then silence remained.
–"He's a boy, strong and healthy, my lady!" The voice was the midwife's. Echoing in his still disoriented mind in fragments.
"Haudo… your name will be Haudo!"
A deep voice said, laden with emotion. It was his father. The name lingered in the room, but something was wrong with the child, very wrong. He was lost in his thoughts, focused on the existential void that troubled him. It wasn't an ordinary void; he felt as if something had been ripped away… erased from him.
He seemed to act on instinct. An impulse, a familiar feeling.
"I… know this world! But as a baby… wait, have I always been a baby?"
He kept organizing his thoughts until… a voice echoed directly from his mind.
"Hello, my husband! Welcome to our world, let's see how far you survive. Remember, you only have one life, hellish hardship, be careful. But above all, have fun!"
The baby didn't understand, but at the same time he did. Anyway, that was the only world he knew, his mother, exhausted but happy. He smiled and whispered in her ear.
"Haudo, my son, your story is only beginning!"
The midwife, while cleaning him, noticed his mark on his right forearm. A dark golden tattoo in the shape of a sun in a half-moon eclipse. The sun a majestic dragon and the moon a powerful wolf. It pulsed softly, latently.
"Madam, your mark is strong… this boy will have a bright future!"
She said after handing the baby to the midwife.
Invisible to the others, except for him, Hyunara whispered sweetly in the baby's mind.
"Sorry for the late introduction, I am Hyunara, your guide! So, rest, my beloved child. I will take care of you until you can take care of yourself. Then… we will do whatever you wish, together! Whatever you desire, your own harem? Empire? Chaos in the world?" "Screw it, anything is possible, all this and much more!"
The little one closed his eyes and fell asleep, feeding on his mother's breast. His life, unbeknownst to him, was about to be the most dangerous anyone could wish for, but on the other hand, fun and plenty of mischief would never be lacking.