< Amor-Cordis - 1st PoV >

If someone were to ask which day was the most important one to my future success; I would have to say it was not one that defined my early years as a human.

Instead I would say it was the end of them.

A little confusing to understand for most, yet given the context that I have, it is hardly a strange answer to the question. In fact someone would likely call me a fool or liar if I went for any day of my life. Whether it concerns what happens in the future or past.

This day didn’t come as a surprise to me at all though. Quite the contrary since I knew well that the broader points of the day would occur, even if some unexpected situations did occur during it due to some error on my part, but I shall recount the events just so we’re all in agreement.

See it all starts in an alternate future at XXX5 where the entire world as we knew it had long changed to be ruled by countless kratocracies. That change occurred due to a little known game called Love Heart Online which, despite its name, was not a fluffy romance visual novel but the most advanced & brutal VRMMO to ever exist.

In fact it was quite the bloody game if one considered the level of detail; even certain events that one could consider belonging to a smut franchise did occur within. It did not take place in a single world either as there were countless different worlds that one could just come into.

Through the game one got to slowly level up their power, different races gaining strength at different rates while different classes gave different bonuses to those wielding them. The important part was that all the strength gained by the game character… Wasn’t the strength of the game character but your strength as well!

Many were scared at first.

Yet considering they changed into their custom game avatars helped make some instant celebrities overnight; none more joyous than those wealthy people who invested into the game early whether through investing into the attached virtual currency or making a guild.

There were still those less than pleased due to either making their character into some sort of funny looking joke, being a feral race and those that were just from a stereotypically ugly race. Nonetheless, there was never going to be any compensation for those unfortunate enough to not take the game seriously at the start.

This was because the new world created by the guilds was a cruel one.

In a world where many were given superpowers it was hardly shocking that many chose to abuse those powers for their own gain. Among those, there were a large group that simply resorted to devious means in order to gain wealth & infamy. Just as believable were those who desired more power since more power meant longer lives with less difficulty.

The modern world could do nothing to stop those villains that run amok while - as if to add insult to injury - the monsters from the game started appearing in real life. With this being the case the people could only rely on the players in order to try to maintain what modicum of a normal life they had.

Of course, there were attempts to control the players by the governments yet many of those players were youths who had been “put down” by the current system. When those ‘old men’ - that they always heard bad news about - began trying to leash them… Well, it only made sense they weren’t receptive, so they became something more akin to vigilanties than employees. 

Compared to the old ailing governments the different businesses were much quicker on the uptake of the changes, sponsoring many of the powerful guilds if they didn’t have those of their own. Obviously those who already had their hands in the game were even better at this; allowing them a huge head start.

Given ten years time of game influencing ‘real life’ and now those governments don’t exist or (if they do) it’s as a shell that has no choice to bow their heads to the guilds.

Those guilds split the world into their own territories just like in the game world but with even more ‘freedom’ since there were no overpowered npcs who would tell them “no”. There were attempts by governments to contact the moderators or even creator of the game so they could potentially help control the situation by ‘moderating’ reality...

That failed.

Unfortunately, few guilds could claim to be filled to the brim with righteous members with many members using their power to abuse free agents as well as “normies” as they called us. I used ‘us’ intentionally  as I had also never played the game in my first life. My reasoning was that my mommy had told me that my first life would best be filled with suffering so I could unleash that as potential in my second chance.

As an obedient boy I obviously listened to my mommy’s words thus (even after she finished training and teaching me) I willingly went into a poor orphanage. From there I didn’t attempt to better my situation leading to me living the life of a regular orphan in a poor neighbourhood. It was more easy than not for a child to have their lives ruined by their environment with nearly no hope for reform.

There was no way to enter the game if I struggled to even afford enough water to live, thus no way I got to become a player, leading to a chaotic time when the monsters first came. Life was no better from there yet I still managed to live to the age of 28. Not particularly old - especially now that people could live for hundreds of years just by changing race - but certainly longer than one would have expected.

But enough about that; it’s time to stop with the sermon and instead time to go into the most important day as well as the last as a mere mortal.

I was just gazing out the window of one of the strongest guilds that came out of the game; the infamous {HERO} guild. In fact the window I was wiping - overlooking the magnificent marble tower like out of those Greek inspired stories - belonged to one of their members. A rather high ranking member at that.

They had a huge variety of race-change items allowing them to become one of if not the biggest guilds even just in terms of capital. This was thanks to the fact that they happened to pick the world as well as area with [Rosario Stones] needed for race change giving them a monopoly on such an important item before it came to light. With that it was easy for them to trade for race-change & upgrade items, easily letting them eat a large chunk of the central European territory starting from the capital of the world, taking over Germany thus solidifying themselves.

Evidently, they wouldn’t have been successful with just that as it would be likely that people wouldn’t let such an important item get away, yet a few factors ensured their stranglehold.

A major one was the fact that (for the vast majority of the people inside the game) no one had any clue of the importance of the stones. This was due to how the identification skill worked “only with the information the player had gathered” thus to most they were just regular stones. Even if the truth was known most would assume there would be another source due to them being easy to find there - in addition to constant healing/respawning of the veins.

They were also founded by the youngest lord of the very people who ran the Vagen company as well as family, giving plenty of capital to invest, letting them shoot ahead. By the time anyone knew what was happening the guild already had a huge lead yet people still argue to this day when they realised the true value of the stones.

It also helped that their engineering background gave them even greater advantages when the true worth of the game was discovered. Not to mention; they already had spent quite a lot of time as a military contractor so had plenty of relevant blueprints to work from.

One may consider it good that I was working for such a prestigious guild, however…

“What is a stupid slave like you doing!” A loud voice called out behind me before I found my little body being thrown to the side by a powerful slap. This hit was of course from the fat Lux-Elf who owned the manor where I was forced to work; some time ago a member of the guild took interest in me for my pure white skin in combination to my short stature.

According to them I was a perfect trap so, to play a practical joke, they forcibly made me sign a slavery contract using their obviously superior physical power.  I wasn’t that opposed since it gave me more chances to gather information for my second chance (just like mommy told me) but that person ended up gifting me to my current owner.

At first he believed I was a cute little girl and was very displeased when he woke up - hung-over with a powerful migraine - only to find out that I was not.

Since then he’s pretty much found any reason he can to hit me - not that I mind that as it means he also brings me everywhere. Thanks to this, I have gotten about all the information I wanted as well as had the chance to meet someone special.

A beautiful voice called out before I even hit the ground; finding myself inside the soft vanilla scented embrace of a very literal angel. “You shouldn’t be so harsh to anyone let alone a poor little mortal who you’ve probably forced into your service!”

She spoke with utter disgust with the man while a warmth flooded through my aching body to subdue any pain.

“I wish I could do more for you than this every time we meet…”

That sweet voice whispered gently with obvious pain within her voice which seemed to eclipse anything I had ever felt. This didn’t surprise me anymore as this woman was one that I knew well as she was from another, although smaller, guild that became famous for their just personalities combined with their overwhelming power. In particular she was a holy paladin called Jesse Harper.

Only a year older than me.

She, as well as a lot of her guildmates, had all attended the number one academy within the world that was built upon an artificial island in the pacific ocean called Frux.  Even with all that had happened to the world the academy managed to remain as a place of education as those alumni continued to protect it as a place of equal opportunity.

They thus named their guild Frux; the highest ranked socially as well as in terms of individual strength with each member pretty much being a ranker in the game.

“Tsk the piece of shit decided to come here himself but pretended to be a girl and seduced me yet I still let keep the job!” The plump pig retreated nevertheless he made sure to slander me while he was at it. Two other guild members that came with the opposing pair didn’t even try to keep in their mocking laughter at their guildmate's poor excuse.

One with shaggy blonde hair with blue eyes, typical ‘hero’ looking type, approached us with a smile that somehow managed to mix ‘egotistical prick’ & ‘ikeman’ together perfectly. “Please forgive him, you know how people like him can get, best just to laugh it off hahaha.”

Although both him and the pretty brunette witch (while glaring at Jesse) laughed off the fat elf’s vicious actions; my sweet angel obviously continued to frown.

These jokers were both friends of the head of HERO, thus core members just like the fat elf who also ended up laughing like the suck up he was. Being core members also meant they were all rankers with the ikeman knight being the strongest as well as most popular within the guild due to his ‘dashing good looks’ and ‘bright personality’. Personally I wanted to reach into his skull and tear out those eyes that dared to look at the woman planned to woo in the future…

Or the past?

Reincarnation and such present a lot of problems chronologically, I suppose?