Click. Click. Click.
The mechanical sound of the keyboard was the only sound at 3:17 AM.
An awkward rhythm, the only metronome marking Dante's life.
His world was trapped inside a 27-inch monitor. On the screen, his Level 99 Paladin, Dame Kaelen, charged forward and slaughtered a sea of Shadow wraiths.
The grind was draining his energy. His back ached, but he ignored it.
One more time. Just one more time…
He was a true gamer.
Though not a pro-gamer. He had no sponsors or streams, and never been in competition.
At 25 years old, he was a part-time convenience store clerk who poured every hour and every penny of his income into the digital void (read: gaming).
His true work, of course, wasn't Kaelen, his character in Aethelgard Online.
It was The List. The 453 characters he had created.
He knew them all.
Kaelen, the very fair Paladin he built over four years.
Bloodrazer, a Level 99 Berserker with zero points in the Intelligence stat, built solely for DPS cap hits.
Morgana, a gothic "Chaotic Evil" Necromancer he created during his edgy teenage phase.
Kasumi, a custom rival character from the game Blade of Souls IV.
The list went on and on.
It included every 1-Star gacha pull from Galaxy Idol Clash, every alt bank account, every failed experimental build, every character from every game he had ever played:
453 characters he had created, named, and in some cases, loved.
His eyes burned. The blue light from the monitor felt like sandpaper on his retinas.
The HP bar of Shadow Wraith began to blur and decrease as Kaelen's [Holy Smite] slashed through with white mist.
Just one more time...
His mind drifted... His hands went numb, gripping the mouse.
Slowly, the sound of the keyboard stops.
And his head feels incredibly heavy.
Suddenly, the room flips upside down. The monitor's glow is no longer a screen, but resembles sunlight suddenly absorbing everything in the room.
Then, black.
***
Dante woke up.
And the first thing he noticed was...
"Huh? That smells weird..."
This was definitely not the smell of coffee grounds and dust in his apartment room. This smell was very sharp and organic. Wood. Wet soil. And moss.
"Fell asleep at the table again, huh... Dammit!"
Dante groaned, forcing his eyes open.
"Ughhhhh"
Something was wrong.
The light here wasn't like the blue and white LED lights in his apartment.
It was a sharp yellow. The kind of light that made his eyes squint. He tried to lift his hand, but it felt heavy, as if something was holding it down.
It was definitely not his blanket.
Twigs. Roots.
He woke up, adrenaline making him open his eyes wide.
'This isn't my room!'
He was in the forest.
The trees towered overhead, their bark so detailed he could see small insects crawling on them. It formed a thick canopy. Sunlight (real sunlight) filtered through the leaves and spread across the golden ground.
He was stranded on the ground. Mud clung to his pajama pants and t-shirt.
'Dream. This must be a dream.'
He pinched the back of his hand.
'It hurts. Shit, this isn't a dream!'
Nonononononononoooo
He scrambled to his feet. His body felt weak.
The air suddenly turned cold, giving him goosebumps all over his body.
"Okay. Analyze, Dante." His voice was very dry. "I fainted. I must be exhausted. Hmmm, could this just be a hallucination?"
"Yeah. Right! This must be just a hallucination!!!"
Suddenly...
CRACK!
The sound of a twig snapping.
Dante froze. The sound was very loud amid the absolute silence of the forest.
Then another sound appeared. A wet snarl, coming from behind the thicket of ferns to his left.
His blood ran cold.
He backed away, his feet caught on roots.
Then, he saw them.
There were two of them. Short, perhaps four feet tall. Their skin was a sickly mottled green, stretched taut over wiry limbs. They wore scraps of rusted metal and filth-caked leather. Pointed ears. Long, yellowed teeth bared in a snarl.
His brain, accustomed to two decades of pattern recognition, immediately labeled them.
"Oh no... They can't be goblins, right?"
They looked exactly like level 2 trash mobs from the Elwynn starter zone. Then relief washed over him.
He knew how to fight them. His fingers instinctively moved to press the '1' key, for Kaelen's [Holy Smite].
'Stupid'
One of them noticed, its black eyes fixed on Dante. And the creature lunged.
GHRAAAAAAAGRK
Fast. Unbelievably fast.
Dante tried to dodge, tried to backpedal, but his body was that of a 25-year-old part-timer who never exercised.
He was clumsy.
And because of that, he tripped.
He fell hard that the air knocked out of his lungs.
The goblin was on top of him. Dante saw blurry green skin and smelled ammonia and rotten meat.
His instincts kicked in, he threw his hands up.
SPLASSSSHHH
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"
There were no damage numbers, only...
'It hurts, dammit!'
A burning, searing pain shot from his arm to his shoulder. His scream was thin and pathetic, instantly swallowed by the forest.
He looked down. Blood. His blood. Dark red.
I'm going to die. I'm going to die here, wearing my pajamas, killed by a level 2 goblin!!!
The second goblin cackled and raised his weapon; a crude club studded with rocks.
The club swung down.
"No!" Dante screamed, scrambling backward, kicking at the ground. The pain in his hand made him dizzy.
"Log out! LOG OUT!"
The words that came out were a prayer. A command. A desperate plea.
The goblins stopped, tilting their heads toward the unfamiliar sound. They didn't seem to understand. And they didn't care.
The one holding the club grinned.
"MENU! OPTION! EXIT! HELP!"
He was now just a frightened man shouting at the trees.
The club was raised.
'It's over...'
Despair filled him. If this was an isekai, like in novels or comics, where the Menu or Status always appeared to the MC...
He willed it. With all the focus he had never used when grinding, he poured his entire being into that one desire.
And something answered.
A pane of translucent blue light, stark and clean against the chaotic green of the forest. It hung in his vision.
He knew this. THIS IS A USER INTERFACE. A STATUS!
The goblin was ten feet away. Charging towards him.
Then text appeared on the status:
[Creator: Dante]
[Creator Level: 1]
[Creator Mana: 10/10]
[Total Creations: 453]
[Summon Slots: 1/1]
[Quests: 1 Active]
► [Survive]
His eyes scanned. His gamer brain processed the data faster than his panicked brain.
Level 1
10 Mana
1 Slot
Below the stats, there was one available skill.
[Skill: Summon Creation (Cost: Varies)]
When he clicked on it, a long list appeared, like a searchable database, but every name—Kaelen, Bloodrazer, Morgana, etc.—was grayed out and inactive.
There was only one option available.
The first Goblin lunged again, its rusty sword aimed at his chest.
Dante didn't think.
He pressed it.