Ren shut off his phone and placed it back on the table, something that he knew he should have done a long time ago.

If anyone else he did not like had called him, he would have simply shut the phone in their face. However, his mother incited a completely different reaction from him every time— like a primal instinct completely overcoming his body, one that he could not stop no matter how hard he tried. His hatred for her was as such, almost unquantifiable. If anything, his outburst towards her just now was not as severe as all the other times, which was probably due to his previously good mood.

He knew exactly why she called him as soon as the news arose and it was not at all for a good reason. She just tried to pounce on any opportunity she could and what better time than when her son made the front page of all worldwide news?

*Argh*

He tried to calm himself down, putting his hands on his wet face, heavily breathing, a serious look in his eyes that were hidden under his pitch-black hair.

He was in such a good mood only a few seconds prior, but now that joy was ripped away and replaced by all memories and torture he had experienced.

*BEEEEEP*

{ Update complete! "Rebirth" is now once again ready to play! }

In his moment of grief, the sound of his VR helmet rang in his ears, notifying him that the update he had been waiting for had finally finished.

"Heh… I can't let this bother me… Today is a good day… Maybe playing the new update will cheer me up again… I'll be the world's first after all…"

Ren mumbled to himself, a small smile appearing on his face as he had never been so excited about something like this in many, many years.

Playing video games, especially Rebirth was the time he felt the happiest and freest. It was a time where he could finally forget the pain of his earthly life and become something different. NPCs were far greater than humans could ever be anyways. At least they couldn't actually hurt him, they were programmed... loyal and would never betray unless scripted to.

All that he knew about the update was that it was going to make the game even more realistic, they were going to remove all invisible walls, and that it would possibly take place in a new region; everything else was completely unknown.

His body still dripping water, a small puddle forming under his feet, he walked over towards his VR helmet, still completely naked forming small footprints on the cold, wooden floor, picking up the black and red helmet with his two, soaking wet hands.

He knew that the VR helmets were all waterproof, and he simply could not wait any longer to dry his body and wear new clothes, he was too excited to waste any time, like his body did not allow him to do anything else. Plus, playing naked might somehow be more refreshing, and now was as good a time as any other to test it out.

He took a moment of pause, staring eagerly at the helmet in his shaky hands, taking a deep breath before promptly putting it on his head, making sure it was secured before he turned it on.

{ Power on }

{10%}

{34%}

{69%}

{100%}

{ Boot up complete! }

Suddenly, just like he always saw, he was thrust into a white void with absolutely nobody, numbers flowing down his entire vision before another pop-up emerged.

{ Please Select a game to play. If you wish to go to the store or settings, simply cancel this window }

Ren answered by simply thinking of the name in his mind.

'Rebirth'

He directly skipped the starting menu that appeared to not change and went immediately into a new game file as it seemed like everything else had been completely deleted, which made sense in his mind.

'New Game'

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

{ Before you commence your new journey, would you like to use your own character that you already created prior? Note: The new update did not provide any new races or customization options }

Ren ignored the rather odd notification and chose the obvious answer, his faithful vampire race had never once let him down. Not only was it one of the most overpowered races in the entire game, he felt some sort of connection to it, almost like it was his spirit animal. it was the same insult that had been thrown at him his entire life, and he had now more than fully embraced it. Plus, he wanted to see how it would stack up with all the new possible changes.

'Old character build: Vampire'

...

…

He was left with absolute silence, almost like the game had completely glitched or frozen up on him before his vision instantly turned pitch black, his consciousness moving forward into what looked like an endless void that seemed to be almost alive, calling out to him from its depths, which was something that had never happened to him before in all his years of playing.

'W-wah! Did they change the starting animations for the game!?' He thought in complete turmoil as it was the only plausible explanation in his mind.

<< Greeting Ren Silver… You have proven yourself worthy without a shadow of a doubt… Welcome to your NEW REALITY... >>

A deep, almost otherworldly voice mysteriously spoke out towards him, his voice coming from ostensibly every direction, shaking him down to his very core, his heart lurching deep down in his chest, pain and fear, unlike anything he had experienced in a long time engulfing his whole body that did not even exist, meaning that he was unable to scream or shout in his deep, seemingly endless agony.

Yet, as soon as the pain came, it just as quickly disappeared. It made him wonder if that pain even existed and what that unknown, new starting voice in his subconscious was as he felt a massive headache ravage his mind.

'That really fucking hurt! Was that some sort of glitch? That voice… Did they revamp the entire opening? Or was that a special message from the devs just for me?''

*Drip* … *Drop* … *Drip* … *Drop* … *Drip* …

"Huh…"

Ren mumbled to himself as he felt something rather odd, cold yet refreshing hitting him in the face, a feeling really familiar yet not one he would expect to feel inside the game…

*Drip* … *Drop* … *Drip*

He slowly opened his extremely fatigued, heavy eyes only to find out that he was looking at the top of a cave where water droplets slowly fell on his face, the feeling so realistic that he almost thought that it was actually real life.

He instinctively began moving his hands, realizing that his entire body had spawned as well, and that he finally entered the game.

Yet, was it even a game?

Ren had played Rebirth for so many years that he was immediately able to tell the difference between game and reality— What he was feeling now lent far more towards reality than a game.

Everything simply felt too real to be a simulation, the feeling of his naked body on the rocky, cold hard ground, the wind blowing coldly on his skin and shrivelled member, even the textures and level of detail on the entire cave that was illuminated by the passive race attributes of being a vampire which inherently should not feel real yet somehow felt all too familiar.

However, the biggest, most profound difference was when he took a breath… It was a sensation unlike he ever experienced in his entire life, in-game or in real life.

The air felt so fresh, rejuvenating his entire body from the inside into a feeling of pure bliss. No artificial air, air conditioners, or anything of the kind could compare to this feeling— it was exactly like he imagined air would feel over 100 years ago. It was a feeling that he could get addicted to, as he started non-stop breathing over and over again with a smile on his face.

He was scared that he had already developed a breathing fetish for fresh air from how good it was. But, now that he thought about it, with how good it felt, would he even complain if he did?

*CRAWWk*

However, he was suddenly interrupted by a sound from the outside, that of a bird that rang into his ears in, once again, an oddly all too realistic way, snapping him back to his senses.

'Ahhh… Where am I?'

Using all the power in his oddly fatigued body, he lifted himself off the ground, feeling pricking pains from the rocks poking at the soles of his feet.

He seemed to have spawned into some obscure area that he did not at all recognize, a rocky black cave with odd-looking crimson roses growing from the cracks, completely unlike the scripted cutscene at Vinay Empire's prison that he so fondly remembered, deeply engraved into his very being from how many times he had experienced it.

He began to move around, finding his movements completely unrestricted, the coldness and moisture of the cave not seeming to have a big effect on him, noticing the exit of the cave that led into a dark forest that seemed to be lit up by both his dark vision and what seemed like a bright white light which was most likely the moon…

Right now, his mindset was not that of a usual professional player or speedrunner, but more like a curious cat trying to examine everything carefully, like a slight, hidden instinct of survival overtook his senses.

The more he walked around and experienced the world, the more and more plausible in his mind that the odd, seemingly impossible thought became...

"Ow!" He instinctively yelled, feeling a sharp object stab him in the foot, looking down to see a black, sharp rock.

'This feels too real. Am I still in the game!? Did they update the player's movement and senses to such an extent? Or have I been transported to this world for real?'

He thought, doing something that he should have checked a long time ago, something that he had a feeling would put an end to most of his questions…

'Stats'

**************************

Name: BallsDeep69

Race: Vampire

Level: 1

Stats

*************

HP: 5

MP: 5

PHY. ATK: 5

MAG. ATK: 5

PHY. DEF: 5

MAG. DEF: 5

AGILITY: 5

SPECIAL: 5

RESIST: 5

*************

Magic and Skills

*************

FireBall

Drain

{Click to see details}

*************

Passives

*************

Basic Disease Immunity

Basic Poison Immunity

Bludgeoning Vulnerability V

Critical Hit Immunity

Cold Resistance II

Dark Vision

Death Magic Immunity

Fire Vulnerability V

Food, Water, and Air are Unnecessary

Energy/Essence Drain Immunity

Light and Holy Element Vulnerability V

Mind-affecting Immunity

Necromancy Resistance II

Paralysis Immunity

Fast Healing I

Physical Penalty Resistance

Recover by Dark/Negative Energy

Silver Vulnerability V

Stalker's Gift ;)

Sleep Immunity

Sun Vulnerability V

Spell Damage Resistance I

Weapon Damage Resistance I

*************

Special Passives

*************

Blood Lust

Blood Furor

{Click to see details}

*************

Race Classes

Vampire (lvl 1)

*************

Job Classes

*************

None

**************************

'It's there…' He thought to himself, looking at his character sheet with a strange feeling in his heart— a feeling of both comfort and disappointment that he was still in the game and had not transferred into a new world like in fantasy, which might have seemed fun in theory but extremely dangerous the more he thought about it.

'It seems that the technology had really advanced this much… This is insane! I bet everyone else would be so jealous if I revealed this!' He thought with a smirk, taking another deep breath of bliss.

Ren then immediately started reading his stat sheet to see if there were any changes added in the new update, until his eyes landed on his name, which made him inwardly chuckle and cringe, almost instinctively covering his face.

'BallsDeep69'

He had made the account when the game had recently come out, and at that time he was only a little kid. And, by the time he became mature enough to realize how bad his name was, it was already too late… The developers gave no way for the players to change their usernames, and by the time he wanted to change his name, he had already accomplished too much on that account for him to simply abandon it— thus, he was reluctantly stuck with it for the duration of his time playing.

However, in his case, it ended up being kind of a good thing since it had become a massive meme in his community and was probably part of the reason for his massive, widespread growth and success.

Ignoring that part of his character window like it never even existed, he continued to examine the rest of his stats, his eyes moving from top to bottom as he mumbled to himself:

"Hmmmm… everything so far seems to be in order…"

"OH! Lord Balls! You're finally awake! Welcome back!"

"AHHHH! WHAT THE HELL?! WHO ARE YOU?!"