Prologue:

Kei Daichi lived an unfortunate life. His mother died upon given birth to him and his father died when he was at the age of three as a result of a drunk driver. He didn’t really know much about them. At the funeral, none of his distant relatives wanted to take him in. However, Masao Daichi (his grandfather) was willing to. His grandfather was a very kind man. He taught Kei a lot. He especially focused on the fact that one should be very prudent of others. Furthermore, to not trust anyone but one’s self. Ironically, his grandfather died by making that same mistake. After going out of his way to invite an unknown homeless man for dinner and giving him a set of new clothes, the man stabbed him, stole what he could from the house, and ran away. Upon entering home from school and seeing the body of his only real family on the floor, Kei etched the scene into his mind.

Consequently, the boy was relocated to a very poor orphanage run by nuns (who were surprisingly very spiteful). He had little to nothing to his name. He also strongly believed that giving in the context of “good” would only backfire in the long run. By subconsciously making this moral decision, something was growing deep inside of his heart. This “thing” would slowly grow and eventually influence all of his future decisions. It was the trait called “Greed”.

Kei was now 30 years old. He worked for a gaming company by testing and playing new games that came out yearly. He would make very little from this job and could only afford the basic necessities. In terms of appearance, he was barely average looking and quite chubby. This was probably because his diet consisted of cup ramen and soda. Being that he didn’t care much for hygiene and that he didn’t leave his house much, it was quite obvious that he’d still be a virgin at this age. That being said, he always dreamt of having his own harem.But, there was something he wanted more than that. He wanted money. He wanted strength. He wanted power. Basically, he wanted everything. He wished for this from the bottom of his heart. However, Kei was not a pessimist nor an optimist. He was a realist. He understood that at best in this world, he could be constituted as average; as he had low talent, and very little resources to make a difference in the world.

As a result, Kei ended up with his game testing profession. He would spend hours on end playing different online games; trying to reach the highest level. This would at least allow him to make his dreams a reality (in some sense of the word). His job also consisted of finding glitches within games. These were basically any sort of problems within the game that could be abused to obtain strength/money/power beyond the norm. He knew that it wouldn’t really be useful in the real world, but he was really good at finding them for his company.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

While in the middle of playing “War of Worlds” on his PC, he began to feel dizzy and short of breath.

*Author’s Note: Anything in parenthesis from now on represents the thoughts of Kei (when I leave a dedicated line for it of course)!*

(Woah, is this what I think it is? No way. It’s probably just because I’ve stayed up for so long.)

Unfortunately for Kei, this was the wrong assumption. His chest began to tighten and his grip on the mouse loosened. His vision began blurring.

(Seriously!? Is this really how I’m going to bite the dust?)

As his life was coming to an end, he violently thought: “I wish I could have had it all”. His eyes closed, as he faded into darkness.

Kei woke up in a very dimly lit area. There were rocks everywhere and the form of the surrounding walls seemed to be concave. Laying on the floor were a few torches. The area behind him was also completely closed off. It seemed to be a cave that was unidirectional. However, Kei was so lost that he didn’t have the opportunity to think calmly about the situation.

(What the hell happened? Wasn’t I supposed to be dead?)

After the initial shock, the first thing that came to his mind was his life before he died. He wished that he had been born with better talent and was given better opportunities. He also believed that if this had occurred, he may have even surprised himself with the resulting success! After having calmed down, he began to make his own deductions about the current situation. He was quite perceptive.

(I’m guessing I’m probably reincarnated. That would make the most sense after dying. What’s weird is that I still have my old memories. Hahaha, I guess I somehow managed to hack life. Let’s see if I could put them to good use this time.)

He tried moving, and noticed that he was hunched over and walking on four legs. Shocked, he tried walking on two feet but immediately failed. Curious about how he looked, he decided to move close to a puddle that was not too far away from him.

(Dear lord, I reincarnated into a rat! I’m pretty low on the food chain. I guess luck’s not on my side.)

Oddly, this form represented Kei’s true inner being. He cared only for himself; much like a rat. Although he might not have acted upon his desires in his previous life, nothing was stopping him now. With many regrets and high ambitions, Kei reassured himself.

(So what if I’m a rat? That won’t discourage me! I’m going to do what I want this time. I really have nothing to lose.)

Making this decision, he scurried towards the only direction available for him at the time. Forward.