I was alone at home that spring evening, avoiding thinking about getting an actual job again. There was no hurry, as the windfall from my parent's unexpected death 2 years earlier had left me with a nice home and a decade's worth of living cash - I was never a big spender. I mostly just gamed and watched shows between minor home projects and random wilderness exploration when the weather was good.

I did a fair amount of internet surfing and trolling, but I had no actual following. There had been a few casual GFs, but no serious relationships had resulted - I just didn't have the degree of ambition women sought for true commitment. I suppose I qualified as a shut-in or incel, but I wasn't too worried about it.

I was dreaming, I thought. This wasn't unusual, as I often became aware to a near-wakeful level in my dreams, but this one was more realistic than usual. I was in a "stone tower" style round room, with a tall center peak, it had a large crystal ball on a table in front of me as I sat in a luxurious throne-like chair.

Above the crystal ball were 5 small spheres floating in a ring, colored white, red, blue, green, and black. Below the crystal ball, on the table, were a dozen scrolls arranged in a circle. Within the crystal ball was the number 12.

As I took in the detail, I realized I was actually wide awake. I got up from the chair, and nothing changed. Empty shelves and narrow windows lined the wall, and an open staircase led downwards. Looking out the windows, I could see my property around me and parts of my house roof below me, but the roof now looked more solid, as if it too were stone like the walls of the room. Peeking down the stairs, they led directly back into my living room, which looked amazingly undisturbed.

I walked back and sat once again on the throne, examining the etheric display in front of me. It felt like it was actually a part of me, an extension of self that I had just now become aware of.

Slowly taking it in, I recognized what it all represented, even though I hadn't played that game in well over a decade. In it's own way, It was a beloved old friend with which I had long spent countless hours.

A hopeful gleam came into my eyes - this could all be better than anything I had ever hoped for, if my suspicions were correct. I hurried downstairs to the computer, quickly searching for the most recent posts about gaming. I had been right! It was global, I could tell, despite the fact that all the reports so far were mostly being treated as fiction or scams. People's games were coming to life for them!

Fortunately (probably) no one else was reporting anything like MY game. In fact, all sorts of games and other activities seemed to be involved, hobbies and interests of all kinds, at a guess.

I didn't know if this were the RPG apocalypse or a divinely-sponsored golden age, or even just a complex prank by ultra-advanced aliens. But whatever it was, I wanted in on it.

I settled down and began making my choices as Master, wondering how many opponents I would be facing.

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Turned out, I was one of the VERY few lucky ones who started with a path to advancement. I had a daily mana "income" just from my starting conditions (sadly, no income for Day 1, though, so I currently had nothing to work with). Unfortunately, the menu options weren't available until AFTER wizard creation settings were complete, so I had to relay on memory. I didn't dare look up the rules online - as I was sure that browsing histories would later be examined once authorities had a chance to catch on and catch up to what was happening. Besides - I had no idea how closely this new reality was going to follow the original game rules.

I had started with 5 Light Magic and 2 Nature Magic, with perks to lower unit costs, improve unit starting power, improve unit loyalty, create magic items and exchange mana for gold. The system had modified my home to become a small tower, which included a barracks for my first unit - a wood elf. Unfortunately, I hadn't been able to change my starting location.

My main reasoning for these choices was to be able to present a "light and innocent" persona, while still being able defend myself. Healing, farming, and messing around with elves was unlikely to raise strong red flags.

The wood elf reminded me mostly of a Santa workshop elf, a 3' high pointy-eared friendly little old craftsman, ready and willing to do whatever was asked of him.

I also discovered that I counted as a "Hero unit", but with pathetic stats of 1 in everything. Mana accumulated at 7 points per day (8 if I stayed home) in my tower reserve. I also had a personal Mana of 5 for combat purposes only. I could also draw on his tower while in combat - but currently for only 1 point/combat (useless). Unlike most people, I DID have starting spells - I simply couldn't afford the mana to actually cast them - yet.

I had 4 Light spells (healing, bless, heroism, and Light Beam) and one Nature spell (Harden). Sadly, only bless, light beam, or harden could be cast with a mere 5 points, and one casting would use up all my mana for that battle. Better hope there would be no battles any time soon, I thought.

My wood elf, sadly, could not speak, only follow a fairly limited set of orders. For now, I set it to "Housing/recruit", since my "tower barracks" could hold up to 5 wood elves. For practical purposes, the elf just went around cleaning everything. My Magic options were also very limited, I could devote mana to Spell Research, my Mana Pool, or to improve casting output.

As soon as I checked out the news and internet, I knew I had to keep my own "game system" secret. I would certainly be killed or enslaved if it became known, and I was likely to be weak and vulnerable for a long time. I devised a cover story instead, since my home changing to a 3-story tower was pretty obvious, as was the elf doing property maintenance. I decided to claim my game was "Elven Farmstead", a gardening game, and that my purpose was to help feed the community. If anyone researched and found the true game details, I was dead. The actual game purpose was nothing less than world domination, if I ever chose to try to actually "win" it.

It turned out that most people's "games" had almost zero growth or starting potential, though some others were like mine, with a daily base income of some kind. Others were "clickers", in which some repetitive action would provide points. But at least no one (or no one willing to admit it) was getting gains based on killing, or even for fighting practice bouts.

My wood elf roamed around the place, keeping things neat and clean, even while supposedly assigned to "Housing/recruit". He would also do minor "fetch and carry" tasks when asked, with no disruption to his assignment. He gave no response to any actual questions, though - he either did what I asked or just stood there and then went back to useful puttering.