A young man in his early twenties rubbed his eyes groggily. His gaze, sharp yet drowsy, was fixed on the screen that illuminated his best apartment.
"One more pull!" he yelled, somehow finding encouragement in it as the sleepiness in his eyes vanished for a single instant.
"Blue Waves."
The biggest game to ever exist on Earth, it was an open-world game where players customized characters and grew them to max level by killing monsters and buying gear and potions using actual money.
On the entire Asian server, Kim Jae-hyun was number one.
He wasn't born into a rich family; in fact, he considered himself from a rather modest household.
Since he had a talent for gaming, he soon began his journey once Blue Waves came out. With his character, the heavenly demon Cheon Beom-seok, he was able to climb the ranks, finally becoming the most powerful in Asia and the second strongest in the world. Today, he was planning on defeating the first place. Once he was done with that, he would read all the chapters of his favorite web novel, which he had been letting accumulate.
On the AMOLED curved display was the figure of a beautiful young man who, even by game or anime standards, was considered well above average. He held a single large red sword with a demon's eye on one hand, and hung on his back was another sword forged from the moon itself. It had taken him a long time to acquire these two swords, two long years of being the sole servant of the Evernight Goddess.
At first, he didn't know something like this existed. It was during a random quest when he fell into a ditch and saw her temple. Reading what was written there, he decided to change the faith of his character, and to ensure no one else would gain the perks, he found something that would hide his faith.
Finally, his hard work was paying off.
The handsome, almost ethereal figure of Cheon Beom-seok, wearing a silk black and red hanfu with long hair tied back by a red hairpin that had a small black bell at its edge, began moving down the mountain.
With a single click, Jae made the character float into the sky. Beom-seok shut his eyes, adorned with red and black eyeshadow; his forehead bore a moon sign that glowed ever so slightly. Then, when the wind blew a little from the south, he vanished and reappeared in front of a hero with blonde hair and golden armor.
"Finally! Let's end this battle, Leon!"
Leon, the character on the screen, turned his head slowly, a grin on his face. "Yes! This will be our final battle, Beom-seok!"
Usually, at this point, Jae-hyun would be panicking, but right now, he couldn't help but smile.
The reason he was always second to Leon was simple. Leon served the goddess of the sun. Because of this, he knew how to suppress him, and divine energy usually affected him the most.
Well… that was when he still had that constraint.
The reason he had been so excited earlier was simple. He had pulled the ultimate elixir, a special drink that could remove all constraints the world had on you, including verse equalization, the factor that even allowed Leon, a fantasy character, to fight a heavenly demon. It also removed rules like "light can defeat darkness," limits on the number of skills you could have, or how much you could heal yourself.
Yes, he had spent over 100k on it, but it was worth every dime.
With another click, Jae made his avatar raise his sword while drawing the other one. The sky turned completely dark, and the only light remaining came from the two swords.
Leon's eyes widened, his jaw slack. Once Jae lowered his blade, the entire area vanished. So did his rival, Leon.
It didn't take a minute for a notification to appear in front of him:
[You have defeated Rank One: Leon Val Amon. Congratulations!]
Jae flexed his muscles in his chair and stood. "God, I feel so good. I can't wait to brag to everyone I know."
His friends might call him annoying for doing that, but he was going to rub it in their faces.
As he walked to the kitchen, he pulled out his phone and clicked on the app where he read web novels. Once inside, he went to his library and clicked on his favorite novel, The Magic Academy's Genius Swordsmaster.
The story was a fun series he had picked up because it was ranked third in bestsellers, and he didn't regret reading it.
The novel was a little like his favorite game, only it was an academy game.
In this world, when one is born, they choose a faith, and the god they serve gives them an ability. With this ability, they must go out into the world and increase the fame of their god or goddess before reaching the age of thirty. How much fame one acquired would determine their future, whether as a lowly plumber or a king.
The academy was a place where even the smallest actions could significantly increase your fame. Going to school, earning good grades, winning tournaments, or saving the academy from danger—all of this guaranteed a prosperous future.
But because many great people started at the academy, it was constantly under attack—from nobles who wanted all future threats eliminated, other faiths who wanted you dead, and evil people who hated gods and sought the death of their followers.
Because of all this, the novel blew up fast, and even the character Leon Val Amon originated from this novel, the main character at that.
Tapping on the novel, the story loaded quickly, and Jae completely ignored his surroundings as he began reading.
As he reached the kitchen, he opened the fridge and took a bottle of water, only to slip on a cloth he had forgotten to pick up that morning.
'Huh?'
Jae felt his entire world flip as he fell, his head striking the edge of the kitchen aisle.
Bam!
In an instant, the world went completely blank. For a second or more, nothing happened, but just as he was about to panic, the sound of birds chirping and the distant blowing of the wind reached his ears.
Jae opened his eyes slowly, his hand flying to his head expecting pain, but there was none. He winced slightly, the lack of sensation making the situation feel even worse.
After taking a breath, he finally glanced around. The place he was lying in wasn't his home; it was obviously not a hospital. It was a grand room with a bed large enough to fit ten grown people comfortably. Looking around properly, the room didn't even look modern.
He shifted his focus to a door on his right, decorated with gold and diamonds. His mouth fell open as, in that instant, a beautiful woman in a maid's outfit opened the door and stepped in.
Her eyes widened, and the tray in her hands fell to the ground. She covered her mouth as a loud gasp escaped her lips.
"Youn—Young Master!"
Jae wasn't completely sure, but he was starting to think he had been transmigrated.