The mail

[You are the Winner!!!]

This text was displayed on 31-year-old Nolan Jones's computer screen. Seeing the same text for the millionth time didn't bring any joy to his heart. If anything, he hoped that he could have gotten the red screen of death instead.

"Haah. This marks my 500th run to rank 1 from a brand-new account." Nolan sighs while rubbing his eyes due to fatigue. He closes the match screen and returns to the main menu. In the left corner, Rank 1 is written right beside his username [N0Gs #56213A313]. He clicks on it, and a large list of ranks opens up. At the top, his name is written in golden letters; the difference in elo between the 2nd rank and 1st is enormous.

"Hmm. 50 thousand points behind. Maybe I should play more on that account. What do you say, chat?"

The man glances at his second monitor, which displays his messages from his ongoing stream. Most of them are insults and straight-up threats.

[MessWr92: Dude. Get a life.]

[Joelovesitblak: You b****! You killed me, your own teammate.]

[Demanslayer69: Are your parents proud of you?]

Nolan smirks as he reads the chats. "You guys do realize that I play games full-time, right? Even if you just come to hate-watch me, you still contribute to my revenue. So, stop crying and get better, Joe!" He shows his middle finger to the webcam. "Your e-girl probably moans my name in the voice chat. Fucker, I will dump on you any day. Tomorrow on stream, Joe's e-girl is going to give us the sloppiest h**d known to mankind. Be sure to be there. N0Gs out."

With these words, Nolan ends the stream. Every day, a new hater comes on stream, tries to act superior, and gets obliterated by N0Gs, the greatest player to ever touch Celesta Online-the world's most loved and controversial BRRPG. Unlike traditional RPGs, Celesta Online is a sci-fi battle royale with many unique features. A match starts with an unlimited number of players and can last for weeks or months. New players can join any ongoing match at any given time. Due to this fact, the game is banned in many countries. There are hundreds of classes and species to choose from. The goal isn't to be the last one standing but to complete the quest given by the celestial. Every player gets a different quest based on their species, race, class, and rank. Higher-ranked players get harder quests than lower-ranked players.

Nolan gets up from his chair and takes a look around his room. He lives alone in a studio apartment, and his house is a mess. Clothes are scattered everywhere, many used tissue papers litter the floor, and an unexplainable foul stench lingers in the room.

This is Nolan Jones, a professional Celesta player and arguably the greatest player to ever exist in the game. He is a legendary villain figure in the game. He takes on absurd challenges that no one else could complete and goes to great lengths to accomplish them. Some people say that he is just an egotistical person; some say that he is clip farming or creating content. But almost everybody knows that he wasn't always like this. Nolan was the first person to actually win a match when the game first came out. He quickly became popular within the community, with many people asking him for tips. At that time, Nolan happily gave out tips and advice to people. He even carried many noobs when they asked kindly enough.

It all changed when Nolan became rank 1 for the first time and managed to remain on top for the rest of the season. That's when he realized the very essence of the game and how it was meant to be played. After that, for five consecutive seasons, Nolan finished as Rank 1. Many people reported him for cheating, but it didn't really matter because Nolan was just that good. But even though he was rank 1 most of the time, Nolan was not having fun. Games were an escape from reality for him-a window that led him to countless possibilities. He tried other games, but nothing hit like Celesta Online.

At first, he forced himself to play the usual way because it brought views, engagement, and money. A lot of money. But money wasn't enough. One day, after streaming, he felt an intense wave of depersonalization. He hated what he had become. Without a second thought, he created an alt account and started playing the way he actually liked-by being a total dick. Nolan was a sadistic person at heart, but he had never realized it before. Plundering loot, spawn farming noobs, betraying his own teammates, and many more unethical actions became normal for him.

This alt account didn't last long, as someone exposed Nolan. The Celesta community literally united to take out Nolan's alt account. They demanded a public apology and the termination of Nolan's alt account. But the Rank 1 player had other plans. He stood his ground and fought the backlash, which cost him his dear streaming career. Now, the legendary Nolan is treated as a villain by the entire gaming community. But at least he was having fun playing his way, right?

No. It was quite the opposite. He was burning out faster than expected, and such low viewership barely put food on his plate. This made him think about things other than gaming.

'Maybe I should have stuck to my main account.' He thought as he stared at his ceiling fan, which made a creaking sound every second.

"Ugh. Fuck it." He groaned as he stretched to grab his phone. The first thing he checked was his mail.

"Shit, no sponsors again." It had been well over a year since he got a sponsor. Suddenly, his attention fell on a particular email in the spam section. The title read:

[We have a job opportunity.]

With much hesitation, he opened the mail. It was a job offer for a beta tester. The pay was decent. Nolan smiled as he received such an opportunity in desperate times. He immediately clicked on sign-up. After filling out most of the details, a page opened on his screen.

[Please fill out the game's name.]

'What? Do I have to beta test an already existing game? Do I have to test a unstable version update or something?'

Nolan's gut feeling was warning him. He felt something fishy about this form, but times were desperate, so he decided to fill it out anyway. He selected the most famous game on the planet right now.

[Celesta Online. Confirm? Y/N]

Nolan clicked yes with no hesitation.

[Thank you for choosing us, N0Gs #56213A313. The testing will begin shortly.]

'Wait, how did they know my username?'

The page closed on its own. Nolan tried clicking on the link again, but it didn't work.

'Did I just get scammed? Whatever, I'll look into it later.'

The fatigue of streaming 19 hours straight took over his body as he closed his eyes.

WHOOM! WHOOM! WHOOM!

'ARGHHHH!' Nolan screamed loudly as an electric pincer pierced his body.

'What—'

Another metal pincer pierced his exoskeleton.

'It hurts. It hurts. It hurts!'

The electricity stopped, and Nolan's eyes finally focused. Pure white tiles were everywhere.

'Huh? Am I in a lab? Is that a human?'

In front of him, a giant human was typing something on his terminal.

'Am I in the game? STATUS!'

A window appeared in front of Nolan's face. Various columns of information were written, such as stats, race, class, and mutations. But one thing made Nolan certain that he was in Celesta Online.

At the top of everything, his quest was mentioned.

[Quest: Build the strongest intergalactic empire.]