In a small room lit only by the glow of a monitor, a man sat hunched over his computer. His breath was heavy, yet relieved. His tired fingers pressed the enter key on the keyboard, then clicked the mouse.
*click
[File has been sent]
Finally, the most difficult assignment of this semester was finished. He leaned back in his chair, loosening his stiff muscles, and stared blankly at the ceiling of his cramped apartment. Dark bags were clearly visible under his eyes, a silent testament to the long struggle that had just ended.
His right hand reached for the mouse, then opened the game launcher he had been forcing himself not to touch for so long. The icon of the game that had been haunting him for weeks appeared on the screen.
"Eldrin Chronicles"
[A new update is available]
A faint smile appeared on his face. His fatigue seemed to vanish in an instant.
"Finally... time to play again," he muttered.
His hand on the mouse pressed the [Update] button on the screen. A progress bar appeared, slowly climbing with a percentage that kept increasing.
[Downloading patch v4.0.0 – Eldrin Chronicles]
[- Bug fixes]
[- Addition of a new main route and several branch routes]
[2%...]
[Estimated time: 1 hour]
While waiting, the man stood up, grabbing his still-warm cup of tea and his phone from the table. He stepped out onto the balcony, gazing at the night sky colored by the light of the stars. A gentle breeze touched his face as he leaned against the balcony.
It's been two weeks since I last played the game. The last time I played, I was on the fifth route in the dating event with that route's heroine. Now I can continue and finish this route and all the remaining ones, hoping for a clue to the true ending.
[15%....]
Eldrin Chronicles was an open-world Action Role-Playing Game (ARPG). The game wasn't very popular among the bigger games of the same genre. I played it because I loved its fantasy academy theme, its bright presentation, and its characters who felt alive, making me fall in love with it from the first day I played.
'Although some story isn't entirely bright, though.'
[30%...]
The world of Eldrin, where the game's story takes place, was a world where magic and a noble's honor were intertwined. A world where the protagonist, Tristan Leonhart, the second son of the heroic Leonhart family, resided.
Although they were descendants of a hero, their golden age had long passed as the power of their bloodline continued to weaken over time. The last time a grandmaster was born into this family was 100 years ago.
Adding to their defeat in the war against the neighboring kingdom, Wilhelm von Elarion, the current King of Elarion, demoted the Leonhart family's rank from Duke to Count.
[40%....]
This threw Tristan's father's mind into disarray. Instead of paying attention to his two sons, he staked everything on his eldest son, Kael Leonhart, who was also the son of his first wife. This left the infant Tristan and his mother, who was merely a concubine, ostracized in the noble house.
Five years before the main story begins, Tristan and his mother were exiled to a house on the edge of the Leonhart territory, more precisely a small town called Eldra.
[65%...]
The main story begins when Tristan receives an acceptance letter from the Elarion Royal Academy as the top student. But life at the academy was not as easy as imagined. He was shunned and looked down upon because of his noble status.
The game also introduced 5 main heroines with great abilities and powerful positions, who support and help Tristan throughout the story depending on which route the player chooses. Not just girls, Tristan also had several male friends in similar situations.
[75%....]
The game had six main routes, one for each heroine and one harem route, and each route had five branch routes for a good ending and five for a bad ending. As for the true ending, no player had managed to achieve it yet. At first, they thought the ending didn't exist and was just a gimmick, but the game developers confirmed that it did.
Then, as if worried about losing players, the developers promised that a clue to the true ending would appear clearly in one of the hidden events in a new route to be released.
*slurp
I smiled as I sipped my warm tea. "And this update is the one they promised."
*tap
While tapping the screen of my phone, I opened the Eldrin Chronicles fan community site, which discussed the game. As someone who had played it since its initial release, I was excited to help new players who asked about things in the game, such as asking for advice on items, skills, team combinations, how to find hidden events, character-specific events, and so on.
[I defeated the boss, thanks a lot! :)]
[ You're welcome :) ]
*slide
I continued to browse the conversations in the community.
[90%....]
Not only did I help through comments on their posts, but I also wrote several guides on how to get high-class items, how to set up teammate skill points for specific bosses, guides on defeating bosses solo, and so on.
Because of that, I was quite well-known in this community. It was quite fun, after all, the reason I helped them was because it was enjoyable to see their reactions when they discovered a new route. It reminded me of when I was just starting out, back when I was still a beginner and the community wasn't as lively as it is now.
[100%....]
[Update complete]
[Restarting game]
Not realizing that the update was finished, I was still engrossed in my phone.
Suddenly…
*KRAAK!
The balcony railing I was leaning is broke. I didn't even have time to react. There was no warning. No cracking sound was heard beforehand. Just one thing, gravity was pulling me down fast. The world spun.
"A-AAAH—!" My body hit the empty air.
*BRAAKKK
My body hit a tree branch, bounced off, and then slid down again.
*Thud
My body hit the ground with a dull, deafening sound. My tea spilled, and my phone was severely cracked. The world became blurry.
No feeling.
No sound.
No breath.
'I didn't expect my death to be this careless.'
Blood flowed from my temple, obscuring my vision.
In my mind, various thoughts arose.
'Hahh…. what a terrible end.'
'I should have apologized to my mother.'
My consciousness slowly faded.
…
The computer screen displaying the Eldrin Chronicles login screen showed complete information about today's update. At the very bottom of the information section, there was information about the title of the newly released route.
[Route 7: Find the happiness you desire….]
…
Darkness…
Then warmth. Slowly, my consciousness returned, but this time it was different. Not a monitor screen, not a computer chair, not the smell of warm tea on the balcony of my small apartment. The first thing I felt was the sound of a heartbeat that wasn't mine. Gentle, regular, and… very close. Then a strange scent, like warm linen and a human body.
"Aaah… he opened his eyes!" a woman's voice was heard.
Suddenly, a bright light pierced through my still-heavy eyelids. A new world greeted me with a flash of white light and the sound of crying, crying that came from my own mouth.
"Congratulations, Mrs. Melvian. He is a healthy baby boy."
'Melvian?' I thought.
But that thought was interrupted by a strange sensation. I tried to speak, but only cries came out. My hands were small, my body was weak. I was being held, wrapped in a cloth, and cradled by a young woman with long red hair and gentle, teary blue eyes.
"He looks just like his father," the woman murmured, gently stroking the thin hair on the baby's head.
Near the woman a stern-faced adult man who looked like he had just been crying. He seemed to be my new father. Suddenly, everything was clear.
'It seems I've been reincarnated, but which family is Melvian from?'