"...Stranger."
Xenos found himself in the third spot, with the first two taken by whales who bought nearly every item and boost in the game; they alone paying the salaries of half the development team.
Unlike them, he wasn't exactly a... paying gamer, so it wasn't expected of him to match them, but despite that, he, using a special technique called "not having a life," did exactly that, catching up to them by the day.
It was enough to bring the attention of beggars every time he logged into the game.
Even now, while just browsing through the main menu, his chat box scrolled endlessly.
One guy in particular was annoying, messaging him on their millionth account today.
—
[Daoist55512]: Stranger, bro, come fight in ranking Dive. We'll pay.
[Daoist55512]: Come on, don't be like this.
[Daoist55512]: Same city, easy pay.
[Daoist55512]: ez win. free money.
[Daoist55512]: pls bro pls bro pls bro pls bro
[Daoist55512]: Money's ready, just fight for us.
[Daoist55512]: PLEASE.
[Daoist55512]: plssssssssss
[Daoist55512]: b r o.
[Daoist55512]: STRANGER.
[Daoist55512]: Just one Dive.
[Daoist55512]: I'll literally pay double.
[Daoist55512]: don't ghost me man.
[Daoist55512]: HELLO???
[Daoist55512]: STRANGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER
[Daoist55512]: we need u
[Daoist55512]: like OXYGEN
[Daoist55512]: TEAM NEEDS U CAPTAIN
[Daoist55512]: pls x1000
[Daoist55512]: I'll literally marry u.
[Daoist55512]: I'll name my kid after u.
[Daoist55512]: FIGHT FOR USSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
[Daoist55512]: 1 match only I swear on my hamster's grave[Daoist55512]: b r o a n s w e r
[Daoist55512]: STRANGER IF U DONT REPLY I WILL DIE IRL
[Daoist55512]: FIGHT FOR US OR I WILL SPAM TILL SERVER CRASHES
[Daoist55512]: fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight fight
[Daoist55512]: stranger pls stranger pls stranger pls stranger pls stranger pls stranger pls
—
Finally deciding to entertain him, Xenos replied.
—
[Stranger]: No.
—
And of course, the bastard went insane.
—
[Daoist55512]: NO??????
[Daoist55512]: WAIT WAIT WAIT NO DON'T SAY NO.
[Daoist55512]: NO IS NOT AN OPTION
[Daoist55512]: DELETE THAT MESSAGE
[Daoist55512]: CTRL Z THAT REPLY BRO
[Daoist55512]: DO U HEAR ME CRYING
[Daoist55512]: pls pls pls pls pls pls pls pls pls pls pls pls pls pls pls pls pls pls pls pls
[Daoist55512]: dude cmon
[Daoist55512]: don't do this
[Daoist55512]: one game
[Daoist55512]: just ONE.
[Daoist55512]: I'll beg forever I swear
[Daoist55512]: take the money
[Daoist55512]: triple pay
[Daoist55512]: ffffffffffffffff
[Daoist55512]: ok fine don't fight.
[Daoist55512]: …unless???
[Daoist55512]: Stranger?
[Daoist55512]: STRANGER??
[Daoist55512]: answer answer answer answer answer
—
Again, Xenos decided to reply; this guy might've been crazier than him.
—
[Stranger]: I'm busy.
—
He was.
—
[Daoist55512]: BUSY WITH WHAT??? PAYING TAXES??? GOING TO WORK??? BRO HAS PRIORITIES. WRONG! DROP EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW! STRANGER GAMING IS LIFE! GAMING IS LOVE! GAMING IS ETERNAL! THE REAL WORLD IS FAKE NEWS! ONLY THE LADDER MATTERS! STRANGER PLEASEEEEEEEE!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! MY TEAM IS DYING OUT HERE! THEY'RE STARVING LIKE REFUGEES OF BAD MECHANICS!
I'M SCREAMING IRL CRYING IRL SHAKING IRL! I JUST SLAMMED MY HEAD INTO THE KEYBOARD AAAAAAAAASDFJKLQWERTYUIOPZXCVBNM I JUST MADE A BLOOD SACRIFICE TO RNGESUS! IF YOU DON'T ACCEPT THIS MATCH, THE SUN WILL EXPLODE! THE ECONOMY WILL COLLAPSE! CIVILIZATION WILL END! THE LAST THING HUMANITY WILL EVER HEAR IS ME SCREAMING STRANGER STRANGER STRANGER STRANGER! I WILL KEEP SPAMMING UNTIL YOUR DESCENDANTS 400 GENERATIONS FROM NOW GET THIS MESSAGE PRINTED ON THEIR RETINAS BY FUTURE TECHNOLOGY!
PLEASE STRANGER PLEASE DON'T DO THIS PLEASE QUEUE WITH US PLEASE I'M DYING I'M CRYING I'M LITERALLY SHITTING TEARS! PLEASE I WILL CARVE YOUR NAME INTO THE MOON! COME QUEUE RANKED WITH US ON LOOP FOREVER UNTIL ALIENS HEAR IT AND THEY DESCEND TO EARTH TO FORCE YOU TO CLICK READY! BRO DON'T MAKE ME DO THIS DON'T MAKE ME GO THAT FAR! I'M BEGGING!
I'M ON THE FLOOR I'M FOAMING AT THE MOUTH! I'M TYPING THIS WITH MY TOES BECAUSE MY FINGERS DIED FROM SPAMMING YOU! PLEASE STRANGER STRANGER STRANGER STRANGER STRANGER I NEED YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU—
—
Yeah, enough of that.
It dragged on at the end, but he found it fun to read their messages sometimes.
This... assured him that if retards held a place in this world, then he too could exist in it.
He smirked slightly and began checking on one of his recent videos that had popped off.
That bug took a while to make consistent, but the damn comments barely mentioned it.
Rather, they were focused on the hours he had spent on the game.
Apparently, ten thousand hours was a lot for some...
Maybe only he and no-lifers like him would find that weird.
Well, it was the first game he played, so he was bound to get obsessed a little.
Yeah... it wasn't his fault; this was something to be expected.
After all, in that world, he could be anything he wanted.
He wasn't a savior no more, he wasn't a bad man either.
Xenos was a flaw, and everyone knew his name.
His only proper name in both worlds.
Stranger.
***
A black luxury car slid down the highway.
Inside, Xenos sat tall, his suit pressed clean against his frame.
His prosthetic leg rested still while his missing fingers hovered over the keyboard of a laptop balanced on his knees, blueprints glowing on the screen.
It was another project he was in charge of...
Another structure he didn't need to check but checked anyway.
In the driver's seat, a chauffeur gripped the wheel, while next to him, a young man ranted:
"Bastard's tearing up the rankings! He's second already! Gaaaah! It was only last week that I begged him to play with us! I keep sending him money, but he never shows up. He's mocking us!"
Ignoring him, Xenos hummed away, acting as if he wasn't the very man this young master was complaining about, his attention never leaving the building schematics.
Some charity client was waiting on his approval. Again, technically, he didn't have to check it himself; his team already triple-checked everything before it was even sent his way. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, all he needed to do was slap his signature on it and call it a day, but...
He wasn't built that way.
Even in this, he found himself obsessing.
Xenos checked every single thing, making sure every drawing lined up perfectly.
Sure, it wouldn't really matter all that much in the end, bombed to rubble by next month, but eh, it was the perfect time for an engineer, being given a lot of projects to work on.
Because if he didn't, what else was there to do?
Well, play the game, but he'd do so after this stupid meeting today.
He planned to get straight back to it and maybe test that new blacksmithing exploit he figured out last night, but suddenly...
"Sir… Throxmeldavikun."
The chauffeur's voice broke the air.
"Five trucks are about to crash into us."
He said that so casually that it took a few moments for it to register.
"Hm?"
Xenos blinked, finally lifting his eyes, only to see death barreling towards them.
Ahead were five semi-trucks, headlights blinding, drivers' faces pale with panic.
The chauffeur didn't wait for them to claim him.
"Sorry, sir!"
He jerked the wheel hard, kicked the door open, and launched himself over the barrier in a desperate roll.
"F-F-Fuck, fuck, fuck!"
The young master scrambled, awkwardly trying to crawl to the driver's side to jump off.
Meanwhile, Xenos leaned back, closing the laptop with a soft click.
He calmly saw the wave of trucks closing in.
Both the fear and the chaos.
He saw it all, and...
"Touché."
A small smile tugged at his lips.
The world shattered in metal, fire, and sound.
And as the flames swallowed everything, a single thought drifted across his mind.
'…Let the next one be better.'