"Huh, I did it."
Lumen said as he watched the screen.
The word 'Victory' appeared, written in a sizable font in front of him. His events and statistics display under its words like a credit scene. He just cleared the final event of the game.
"Heh, who would think that I would be the one to finally finish this game."
Even now, he can still hear his running heartbeat and that it hasn't calmed down yet. Thinking that it took him five and a half years to complete the game definitely helped bring him joy.
After pausing the credits, Lumen stepped back from the machine to calm his heart and went to his kitchen to prepare a snack to enjoy his hard-earned victory.
Lumen Lurch was a simple person with a simple wish for a stable life. After reaching age 65, he finally got what he wanted by retiring from government work with a complete retirement plan, extra benefits, and some additional gifts from government officials for PR.
With his new two-story house built in the countryside and monthly income from the government providing for him so long as he had yet to kick the bucket, Lumen decided to do things on his bucket list.
That was to sleep till 10 AM without worrying, play games, and watch media all day. Of course, with the latest tech's help, Lumen eats and exercises healthily so that he doesn't die in a few years. Due to his daily routine or loss of weight called work and responsibility, he began to look at his upcoming days in a more positive way and started to take joy.
"Damn, is this what it means to be used to the lifestyle."
Lumen grumbled, realizing he had gotten sleepy due to his sleep schedule. Shaking his head to wake his foggy mind, he finished preparing his snack.
Seeing a single old man preparing a snack in an empty house, some people would mock him for living a pointless life without a wife or child to care for him. That would be right. Even Lumen knows that he focused too much on his work and family forgetting his own life, but he doesn't regret it. His life motto has no regret for his choices as it's a choice he made, and if he suffers from those choices, it's his fault and no one else's.
A few minutes later, Lumen finished making his snacks, but it became something that hardly be called a snack. A large bowl of fried noodles mixed with fried meat sausages and eggs, the man remembered to pick his favorite chilled drink from his fridge too. Then he realized he had broken his diet again.
"Damn, this unhealthy shit."
Said Lumen, but his hand refused to let go of those 'shit.' Ultimately, he decided to fix his exercise schedule to burn those. With his snack in hand, he returned to the machine and continued the credits.
Just Out Of Reach!
The game was released ten years ago. The game is a classic at this point.
It was a rogue-lite RPG where the player had to pick his faction led by specific individual lords and build a base in order to protect the city on the border. The player's task was to protect their base and raid the headquarters of enemy forces in turn.
However, the game was infamous for its brutal difficulty because of the permanent death of characters, disgusting rng, unfair enemy tactics, complex economy, and spreading corruption mixed with a constant threat of enemies at the gate.
The game had been globally popular at the time of its release, but it was now just another one of those old classics with few die-hard fan bases and modders keeping it alive.
One might wonder why he decided to play the game at this time.
First of all, it was so accessible that one could play using almost any device that could connect to the platform.
The second was his small wish of being the first person to finish the game's most incredible difficulty.
The hardest difficulty was called 'World in Conflict.' And on top of it, there was a game mode called 'End Game,' which, at a specific time, would cause various events around the game world known as 'The End Game Scenario.' Combining both of these brought you difficulty that players decided to name "Manhua simulator" due to how unreasonable the game become as 'support' factions would declare war, cut their support and send their forces out upon even the most minor grievance and continue to fight to the death for stupid reasons even when they themselves were getting devoured by monsters.
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Some people had cleared the 'Just Out Of Reach' difficulty, which was right below the 'World in Conflict' difficulty. There is a person who cleared the 'World in Conflict' difficulty without the 'End Game' mode, but this is the first time anyone has cleared 'Manhua simulator' mode.
But now, ten years after its release, a person who cleared the Hell difficulty in 'Manhua simulator' mode finally appeared—and that person was him!
* You earned the achievement 'The World Beyond War'; currently, only 0.01% of total players have this achievement.
There was a small screen that popped up from the side of his screen. It may be nothing more than a few rows of code, but to him, it was something to be proud over.
* Cleared the game in World in Conflict difficulty & End game mode. You will be rewarded with spatial points and new starting traits! Calculating the realm points…
Then the event page reached its last part showing the events.
* Nashi, The White Hand, has been slain during battle. Survived turn 251
* Greasefang, The Tyrant, has been wounded during the battle. Survived turn 250
* The Marduk, The Iron Hide, has been slain during battle. Survived turn 250
* Pete, The Lucky Star, has been killed during the battle. Survived turn 249
* ...
Lumen felt sad seeing such a high amount of loss.
In the final moment, he spent every trick, tactic, and power at his disposal, but still, he lost everything except his lord. During his long play, he has grown attached to those characters.
In this game, using various methods, the player recruits characters who possess multiple traits and personalities, ranging from simple recruitment to literally making them in the lab.
Each player had their different favorites and tastes, as one could easily see from various media. From monstrous one-person army characters to sneaky backstabbers that had no bottom limit.
'In the end, they all died….'
Be it hero or coward; the man smiled bitterly. The game's crazy difficulty had a structure that forced sacrifice in order to proceed with no rollback.
It's a coincidence how the man won as he would usually play on this mode to grind unique resources using its reward multiplier that his lord can use for permanent benefits related to his lord and its faction. Thanks to a few lucky strokes, he could keep his few characters and build his fortress despite some blunders, but everyone except for the lord died in the final event.
Well, it doesn't matter since he can try again next time. He lost more than a hundred times, but finally, he won. Next time, he can be better and more prepared than last time.
When the last word of the credits vanished into the top of the screen, Lumen saw the whole scenery where his lord stood alone in the middle of ruins, surrounded by death and silence.
[PRESS ANY BUTTON TO RETURN TO THE MAIN MENU]
Behind the sentence that flashed over the screen for finishing the wave. In front of the boss monster she had slain, atop the mountain of allied and enemy corpses and surrounded by the remains of her base, his lord stood alone.
Ironically his lord Sylvesris was mocked by the game community and in the lore as a paper tiger, coward, empty vase, hidden 2-star, neet, training wheel, and walking rule34 as a joke. Still, in the end, she finally saved the world and completed her mission.
"......"
It's a bit sad., thought Lumen as he observed his lord finally take a seat on the ruins of her utterly empty base.
His lord finally saved the world but at what cost?
There were two reasons why the man chose this lord: people mocked this lord, because in this fantasy world where other lords were said to be heavenly heroes, curse-ridden dark champions, or beautiful warrior maidens and saints. Sylvesris was an artificial human made for the sole purpose of fighting against the incoming horrors by ordinary people by sacrificing their all. But, in the end, it still fell short when compared to other demigod-like beings.
Sylvesris is strong, but only at the beginning, before her efficiency falls drastically after the first few turns because of her unique traits. But also, thanks to these traits,Lumen able to beat scenarios that were said to be the hardest without any difficulty.
Other lords fight for various great goals or ideals; meanwhile, Sylvesris fights just because it's her mission. But that is why she is the only one who can take her payment by force. She is not a savior or a hero, it's her job, and she knows that only she can do it. If people don't pay her, she can take it by force.
That is the second reason he got for playing her.
The first reason was, of course, her faction's aesthetics and play style. It scratched the right spot in Lumen's tastes.
"That was good."
Lumen wanted to take another bite but only found an empty bowl.
"Maybe, just one more time."
That said Lumen took one last look at the victory screen. He wanted to start anew run again as he saw his reward; maybe this time, he could evade such a tragic-looking scenery.