Thunder God

[One million five hundred and fifty seven thousand players are currently playing Monarch's Kingdom.]

[You've been given special access to Monarch's Kingdom.]

[You can now personally meet with the King at any time.]

Jeff felt a dismal sense of disbelief while a series of guards pushed him through a crowd of over ten thousand people waiting outside of a castle.

There was lots of lights flickering all around and it seemed to be day on one side and night on the other side of the world.

"Jeff… You need to pick your old screen name you crazy asshole!"

Radiant Smile, or Marcus, patted a man that looked exactly like Jeff on the back.

In Monarch's Kingdom, pretty much everything looked real and nothing looked fake but the time difference between the real world was quite drastic. Time went at the same speed, but processing was different so time felt fifteen times slower.

In comparison to the real world, many people who got chosen to play the game loved to stay inside of it. It was almost like being brought into a fairytale and being asked to leave.

"One day is equal to fifteen days in here. It's to give you a little bit of a chance. HOHOHO!"

A man in king's armor walked up to Jeff and Radiant Smile.

It seemed like the entire world froze and everyone went quiet as they focused on the king.

"My name is Monarch, and I am the king of Monarch's Kingdom. You three are my greatest competitors. The millions of people around you are other players that got chosen for the RPG world I created. Because I need you to get strong as fast as possible, you will be allowed to skip all the queues for my dungeons and dragons."

Jeff had a blank box over his head because he'd forgot to chose a screen name and sighed as a dialog box started to spam him.

[Username: ThunderGod has been chosen.]

"I… I guess I have to use this old pretentious name."

Jeff watched a few people realize who they were looking at before he miserably dropped his head. The chagrin he felt when he used to play in tournaments as Thunder God had increased manifold! It felt a lot different being the Thunder God when your day job had been in marketing for 4 years.

"Hey look! It's Thunder God and Radiant Smile! They're not dead!"

"OMG! I can't believe it! I thought they swore to never play a game again!"

Jeff felt the world around him shrinking the next moment as Angela appeared from the corner of his vision and tapped him on the back.

"It's her! Dude, the queen is here! They even brought the queen!"

A large smile appeared on Monarch's face while he walked forward in a red gown with crystal diamonds all over it. It almost looked like he was a moving king from a card game. He gently patted Jeff on the shoulder before the next moment he turned back as a sword appeared in his hand.

"Buah!"

A man that had tried to attack him got cut in half instantly before he disappeared into a cloud of blood.

"There is a rule here that anyone that kills the king becomes the king and gets one million dollars."

Monarch quickly sheathed his sword so fast that a blur could barely be seen. Perhaps comparing him to the best experts would be ridiculous because he seemed to be too fast to be human.

"You know… I versed a million people yesterday by myself, but killing one still brings me great joy."

Jeff nodded his head and watched the man that got cut in half fade out of existence.

Slaughter.

He'd completely slaughtered the man so fast, and he seemed to be in high level gear.

"By the way… I choose to stay level 10 so every time you get a chance level up. It's the only thing that gives me a disadvantage. The higher your stats the easier it will be to kill me. Of course, once you get to level 100 I might have to go to level 20."

Jeff looked around and saw mountains on one side in the brightness of day and on the other side billowing clouds full of tundras. A port could vaguely be seen in the distance hiding in a mist.

"Is this… Is this a real RPG? Did you really create it?"

"It's the best ever!" Jeff heard a response to his question from a young girl holding a gigantic sword. She had white hair and somewhat resembled a Lolli. "I love everything about this place. The bosses are constantly getting stronger and evolving! I even almost injured the King the other day."

"That's the White Queen! The WHITE QUEEN!" Marcus said with a glowing glint in his eye, feeling a strange sense of nostalgia from the beautiful girl standing in front of him. "She's the one from Paradise! The only team that ever got close to beating us."

"Well… You guys spent more hours training than us. However, Jeff here is a genius. I'll give him that."

White Queen's resentment ridden statement seemed to manifest with a sense of fondness attached to it.

Jeff remembered hearing about her childhood a long time ago.

She'd been an orphan just like Marcus and yet escaped and joined a video game circus. It was not the most normal thing, but some people made a living entertaining people with video game trick shots, etc.

She became famous for doing shots while flipping in the air.

In Throne Wars, she literally was the hardest person to kill that Jeff could remember offhand. Of course, thousands of others might be considered better than her, but none had such an oppressive stare.

"I'm about to go get wasted."

White Queen crossed her arms. "The drinks in here make you drunk as hell! How the hell did you figure that out anyway?"

"It's just a little game I play as King." Monarch patted White Queen on the shoulder. "Anyways, these three have a little demonstration they're supposed to give me. I believe you three are said to be the only ones to ever beat an AI correct? Shall we have a little dalliance in my castle?"

"Sir! The dragon has been created."

"Good," Monarch suddenly had an intense glint in his eye. "Release it and destroy all the incoming hordes from Salvedora. I don't want those humans breaching my territory!"

"What the hell? Is this Lord of the Rings?" Radiant Smile laughed until he watched a dragon burst into existence. "OMG! It's huge! Ah! I can see fangs on its fangs on its fangs!"

"Beware of Salvedora. Another AI is being created by another company that wants to kill me. You may have to go up against him as well if I fall. Perhaps the world will change if he wins…. For the worse."

Jeff and Marcus felt a little bit ridiculous and smiled.

"Ha, this is insane! No way you're telling the truth."

A second later, nothing but silence remained in the square and everyone turned and faced a large mass of orcs and demons rushing over the hill like wild banshees.

Instantly, a swarm of them had already approached Monarch and yet…

Rather than trying to attack him they all seemed to gravitate towards Thunder God. It was almost as if this was a present from a distant place but not the type of present one should open.

"You have a sword don't you?"

Monarch stepped back as Jeff stumbled to jump away from a swinging claw.

"Ah!"

He pulled out a sword and the next moment a flurry of dozens of attacks struck out and sent sparks shooting into the air.

"That was ridiculous."

The next moment, three heads fell onto the floor from the demons that attacked.

[You have leveled up 5X]

Jeff took a deep breath and felt a surge of strength rise in him as excitement ran through his body.

"Geez, these things are already level 10. So unfair."

"Your pants almost fell off…" Angela joked. Two daggers spun into exitance and three demons instantly got slaughtered. Their red skin and white tribal tattoo markings seemed to get shattered by a simple hand movement.

"I can tell something is different about this game… Why can we beat monsters that are 10 times are level?"

Monarch smiled and pointed at the castle.

"All that needs to be revealed shall be revealed inside the prettiest place in this world. A place you shall soon see is full of the greatest rewards in the universe one could ever own."

"You shall own them all if you beat me once in any game you can think up."