CH 01: Name is what gives a person identity, so always name your kid John Doe

Hao can only stare at his phone with disbelief. He has so many questions in his head, and he is lost on how to find answers to those questions. All of this doesn't make sense.

"What am I going to do now...?" Hao muttered to himself. "No, wait... let's think about this. I'm six years old and look at the date, and I would be 20 right now. What is the most important thing that happened this year?"

Hao starts to rationalise his thought before returning his gaze to his phone.

"That right, GEP is releasing this year... Wait a minute... No... It had already been yesterday. But if it was released yesterday, then that means...?" Hao's eyes quickly land on a particular headset on his desk.

"Right, I bought that headset yesterday for GEP, and after that, I decided to wait for the game to install overnight."

Today is the day Hao plays GEP for the first time before finding a job for himself tomorrow because now he is living alone.

With that thought in his head, Hao quickly realised what kind of situation he was in and what potential he had with the Grand Eternal Phantasy game.

"Ha... Haha... HAHAHAHAHAHA." Hao can not help but laugh at the ridiculousness of his situation. For him, it was like a dream, a bizarre dream for sure, but this was not a dream; this was reality and when he realised that, he could not help but laugh.

"What is the chance of this happening? Is this a work of higher power, or maybe it is just some sort of cosmic accident? Not that I'm complaining."

Hao knows the true potential that GEP have, and he knows that if he is successful, he can make millions out of playing the game alone, or even more than that. He can earn almost anything if he becomes successful in the game, money, fame, power and much more.

Considering how much he studied about the game, he knows nearly every crook and cranny of the game. At the same time, he certainly does not have perfect memories and remembers all the small details, and he sure remembers all the necessary information about the game.

"I guess of those hard work due paid off after all." Hao said, standing up and grabbing the headset before putting it on. But he stops himself from putting the headset on.

"Do I want to do this again?" Hao asks himself. While the opportunities from the game are endless, and the money and fame he can make from this game are undoubtedly impressive, there is still one question holding Hao back.

Does he want to do it again?

Hao would undoubtedly be able to gain more money and fame, but what will be the difference from his past? He would probably do the same thing again, but this time on a bigger scale. Instead of being a guild member, he would be a guild leader; instead of making a minuscule amount of money, he would make a ton of money.

He would become much more powerful than his past self and will be able to take revenge on those who wrong him, but why should he? While he certainly doesn't like those people, it doesn't mean he should go out of his way to take revenge on them, considering that those guys just started playing, and they would technically not even know and have done nothing wrong yet.

'But is it worth it?' Hao thought, 'What the point of going back in the past to do the same thing but bigger? What is the point of doing this when I only do it for the money? At that point, it would turn this game into nothing more than a job that I would have no fun doing.'

"Fun, huh?"

Hao starts to remember last night when he has so much fun playing his old game and seems to conclude sorts.

"What the point of playing this game when you are not even having fun?" Hao muttered; it was one of the statements he heard before quitting the game.

"You know what? They were right; I should not play this game when I don't have fun; that is the true purpose of games: to have fun. A game that is not fun is not a good game. It's simple as that."

Hao remembers how much fun he had playing GEP for the first time before that fun started to disappear when he began to take the game seriously, or maybe too seriously.

Hao finally made up his mind.

"Well, there is nothing wrong with becoming powerful and earning a lot of money from this game, but this time I should have more fun playing the game this time around."

Turning the headset on, Hao could feel his mind drifting, and it was a new feeling for his body but his mind; it was a very similar feeling that he always felt when he entered the game.

|Logging in...|

|Welcome to Grand Eternal Phantasy|

|Please make your chracter|

A female voice greets Hao, and the next thing he knows is him floating in a dark blue void, while next to him seems to be a glowing blue light that is the source of the female voice.

"Oh right, character creation."

In front of Hao are several menus for character creation, and Hao wasted no time starting his character creation.

First faction

|Please select your faction|

|Light faction/Dark faction|

It was easy enough; the light faction is for the good guy, while the dark is for the bad guy. While this might seem like a simple action, a usual trope in entertainment will impact your character in the game.

For example, a person in the light faction cannot enter a city that sides with the light side, while the dark side is also the same in the opposite manner. This can also determine the story quest you will have in the game.

Most people would usually pick the light faction due to the simple fact that it is a good guy faction. Some people are in the dark faction because they want to be bad guys, but the light usually has more people in them.

If you would put it in percentage, 60% of the player base is in the light faction. Seem to be unbalanced, but that is how people work. The game company can't do anything about it; most people want to be heroes because heroes are cool.

Before travelling back in time, Hao is also one of the light faction members due to its popularity and the number of players.

But this time, he doesn't want to be in the light faction anymore. Hao wants to be in a dark faction for no complicated reasons. It is a very simple reason.

And that is, while good guys are cool, bad guys are even cooler. Besides, if there is one thing Hao knows about being a bad guy is that the bad guy always has so much fun just doing bad guy stuff, and that is what he wants to do this time around.

|You have chosen the dark faction|

Quickly, Hao continues to the following menu.

|Please select your class|

|Warrior|

|Paladin|

.

.

|Knight|

|Black mage|

|White mage|

.

.

|Archer|

|Battle mage|

|Gunner|

.

.

The list goes on, and there are a total of 50 classes in this game; Hao keeps scrolling down the list to see all the classes, trying to remember the weaknesses and strengths of every class.

'Now, this is a hard decision.' Hao thought.

While he played in knight class last time, this time, he wanted to do something different.

A class that would make the most fun to play for him while also fitting his play style. Hao quickly concludes.

'You know what? I have an idea.' Hao thought before quickly scrolling through the list of classes before finding the course he wanted.

|You have chosen rogue as your class|

|Are you sure this is your decision? Once you enter the game, you cannot change your class.|

Hao press confirms without any hesitation.

"I'm gonna be one speedie boy." Hao cannot help but say something while selecting the class.

After all, he knows exactly what to do and what kind of build he wants with this class. Hao now plans what to do with this class and what item he needs for his build. As clear as day, Hao still remembers what a good rogue player can do and how much of an annoyance a good rogue player is.

While the knight and rogue class have different playstyle, the fundamental is still the same, making it not a hard transition for Hao. Besides, there is also the training where he can practice the class, so there is nothing for him to worried about.

But right now, all Hao cares about is the number of shenanigans he can cause playing this class.

'People are going to hate me.' Hao thought, and despite the negative thought, he could not help but smile.

'Now then, for my appearance.'

As for appearance in the game, GEP doesn't have character customisation (which Hao thinks is very stupid); the game will take your real-world appearance, and you can alter your arrival by 0-20%

While most people don't like the fact that you can't create your character, it's not because the game dev doesn't want to do it, but due to limitations of technology, altering your appearance too much will cause a de-sync with the control, making it harder for the player to control.

An example of this would be when you suddenly turn from an average size person to a dwarf or an elf; it would cause a lot of your senses to feel disjoint due to differences in size, so it is better to have the same appearance and size as your real-life counterpart.

Hao decides to alter his appearance by 10%.

|Appearance confirm|

|Please choose your name|

'Name, huh? What should I call myself?'

Hao thinks hard and probably spends too much time on this; he is trying to decide whether to go with a cool or funny name.

But a real gamer knew that, while a cool name is that, a cool name, people might think that your name sounds cool and awesome; a funny name, on the other hand, might not be cool, but a funny name is sure as hell memorable.

'Like think to yourself which one is better, Gamergodslayer or Xx-notvirginkun420-xX. You know the answer.'

But in the end, Hao decides that he wants to have a standard name considering that while he might alter his appearance, some people might still recognise him outside, so he decides on a normal name, not an insane one. Because, even if the chance is rare, some people might identify and call you by using your username, which can be very embarrassing for Hao.

|Your name cannot be changed after you enter the game. Are you sure about your name?|

Hao quickly presses yes.

|Welcome to the game 'Actuallyfiend'|

With that, Hao starts to load into the game.

'Now then. Let's get this party started.'