Have you ever wondered how those so-called chosen ones always had a sudden awakening point? Something that defied all logic?

For example, a sudden change in temperament, an unparalleled level of growth, or even a surge of unknown power allowing them to survive in an impossible situation…

What allowed them to ignore all common sense?

Well, the answer for that is quite simple. 

It was all me, the man behind the scenes. I’m known by many names, but most know me as Plot Armor.

`~~~`~~~`~~~`

{ District 18 is temporarily closed under the Gate Management Association's orders. Please refrain from traveling there until a proper parameter is set up. }

‘Ah, another Gate has appeared?’

Unfastening his tie, Damian didn’t spare much thought to the repeating alarm that was blasting through the street.

His whole outdoor life revolved around going back and forth from the office. Aside from runs to the store at the end of the street, he spent the rest of his life nesting at home.

‘Not like I can do much in this messed up world.’

Still a few streets away from reaching his comfort zone, Damian’s mind couldn’t help wandering back to where it all started.

While he didn’t have a perfect family back then, he still had good parents and a cheerful sibling. However, once the Gates appeared, every human relation was taken away from Damian like many others.

Even the only thing Damian had achieved in the years of peace, his education, currently had no worth.

He had originally graduated with a degree in Applied Chemistry, something that should have guaranteed him a job in a respectable factory or a decent research lab, but once humans obtained the strange stones that came out of the Gates…

All common science practice was now something of the past!

Aside from the bare minimum that supplied people with their regular needs, all big enterprises took on a different angle to research these new components, leaving an influx of unemployed graduates to rot.

In the end, many had to start learning new principles from scratch, while others gave up on life and struggled between part-time gigs. As for Damian, he was right in the middle of the two.

Although didn’t have the energy or the spirit to start anew, he still learned a few essential skills before getting a basic office job at a busy company.

Since everyone else was busy doing practical experiences, this company took on tedious tasks of data-processing from other businesses. It managed to fill the hole but also overworked its employees in the process…

It was hypothesized that those jobs would have also disappeared if the development of Artificial Intelligence had continued, but all progress had halted with the great change.

‘It’s not that bad.’

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Considering that it allowed him to put food on the table and obtain the main necessities, Damian didn’t complain much about his life as an office worker.

He also didn’t resent anyone for how his life turned out… Or so he tried to convince himself.

‘Things wouldn’t have turned any differently if they were still the same… Yeah.’

Even then, Damian still had to admit that he was partially jealous of the Hunters who awakened their special ability just like everyone else was.

However, in order to avoid the dark thoughts, he tried to convince himself that his monotonous life was still safer than that of Hunters, and only one thing could help him cope like this.

‘Finally.’

Turning the key, Damian stepped into his one bedroom apartment. Before he even got to remove his shoes, he booted up his old PC.

In this world where reality wasn’t that much different from fantasy, Damian still resorted to games for escapism. After all, he was a powerless person who could only die if he had a chance encounter with a single monster.

And there was just one game that could scratch that itch and allow him to go on with his boring life. 

‘Was it time for the coronation today?’

Fate’s Guide, an endless game with crappy pixelated graphics!

Damian had picked it up through a random recommendation when he was bored and penniless. He couldn’t afford a PC that could play the really fun games, so he could only make do with something like that.

At first, it was just curiosity that kept him going, but he gradually became engrossed with it. Even when he later saved enough to get a better set up, Damian felt it was no longer necessary.

If one only looked from afar, the game’s concept wasn’t very special. 

Aside from the brief tutorial at the start, the player would control a new character at each level to achieve a certain target, embarking on one quest after the other until the end goal is met.

However, it was exactly because of its cliche aspects that Damian enjoyed it. Each level was a world of its own with many elements to discover that was not limited to the final objective.

Most importantly, while the pixel art was barely sufficient to recognize them, each character in the game had their own personalities that made it hard to believe they were just NPCs, their lives were just as interesting as that of the Main Character.

So far, Damian had already played over tens of levels, yet each new world wasn’t any less interesting than the one before it. It made him feel as if he was personally experiencing all of these lives.

Damian especially enjoyed experimenting with the mechanics of each level since this game gave infinite respawns to offset the starting difficulty…

[ Day 4586 - Coronation of a new Emperor. ]

Currently, Damian had already reached the end of yet another level. It was very exciting to see everything that he did come into fruition, but what was more exciting was the chance to go to the next level!

Although it was mostly an offline game, each time a level was finished, it needed to connect to a network to download the next one. Damian couldn’t just skip a level and pick what he wanted, he had to advance through them to unlock more gameplay.

While that was a little bit strange, it made sense for a game that was almost completely realistic.

[ The people of the Capital joined on the Central Square at such great day, even residents from all over the Empire traveled long and far to witness the crowning of the man who broke all odds to achieve his destiny... ]

‘It’s time for you to achieve your dream, little Roy.’

Looking at the narration describing the culmination of his effort of many days, Damian got a little bit emotional. 

It might sound boring to others, but helping the abandoned prince survive and climb all the way back to the throne was one of the more notable levels to Damian.

Everything was going well as Damian waited for his level clear notification. However…

‘Is this a glitch?’

Things took a strange turn as the characters that filled the screen all turned to look at Damian. 

The abnormal head movement followed by the prolonged stare brought a chill to Damian’s heart. For some reason, the two pixels that the eyes occupied felt increasingly real at this moment.

[ Level Clear. Final Level has been cleared. ]

‘There it is. Why was it so late… Wait.’

Damian was glad to finally get the clear message, hoping to skip this concerning scene to the next level. However, still tilted by the sudden glitch, he noticed the remainder of the notification a little late.

[ All-Level CLEAR has been achieved. Plot Armor System will be initiated! ]

‘Huh?’

Damian’s mind froze for a moment, but looking at the message window that flew out of the screen into reality, it melted into a plethora of confused thoughts.

‘Is it finally my turn?’

Thinking about all the characters that he raised and obtained fate-changing opportunities for, the first thing to come to Damian’s mind was that it was finally time for his own turning point of destiny.

While wasn’t sure how this System worked just yet, Damian had read enough as a student to guess that he would obtain stat points, abilities, and skills.

With this, he could become a Hunter and achieve all he could have dreamed of! Unless he was hallucinating, Damian believed he had finally got his lucky break!

No matter what, it looked like he was getting rewarded for diligently playing the game for all these years, so it should be something good, right?

[ Damian Tray, from this point on, you shall become the Plot Armor of the hopeless within the Infinite Worlds. ]

‘Eh?’

Seeing his expectations reversed, Damian’s world suddenly turned black before he could process anything.

[ Your first Mission as Plot Armor has been automatically started. ]