Prologue: The Chosen Path
Kaito Momogushi was your average otaku. His room was stacked with manga, anime figurines, and glowing LED screens. Out of everything he consumed, anime, manga, novels, even MMOs, his obsession was a single game: Chosen Path.
It wasn't just any game. A prodigy tech genius had made it, inserting a self-learning AI into its core. NPCs could react to anything you typed. You could hold real conversations with them, convince them, lie to them, or make allies and enemies just by your words. Every playthrough was different.
But the true glory of Chosen Path wasn't its branching story, it was the classes.
When you began the game, you created a character, name, appearance, and class. Swordsman, Tank, Mage, Summoner, Healer, these were the reliable paths, the ones everyone chose. Balanced, powerful, safe.
But Kaito wasn't interested in safe.
When he booted up his third playthrough, he typed in his name, Hunter. He gave his avatar striking white hair and crimson eyes, not because of any deep reason, but because it looked cool. And for his class, he scrolled past all the normal ones. Past the recommended. Past the strong.
He picked the weakest of them all.
Necromancer.
A class mocked by players. Weak summons, no defense, no real damage. Most people died before reaching level 10. But Kaito knew the truth. If you endured the early hell, if you scraped by long enough, Necromancer could grow into something unstoppable.
Smiling at his screen, Kaito cracked his knuckles. "Alright, Hunter. Let's clear this game one last time."
And then the thunder roared.
A blinding flash tore through his window. Pain exploded through his chest. He had no time to scream, no time to think, just white light.
When Kaito opened his eyes again, the pain was gone. Instead, he stood in the middle of a cobblestone plaza. The sound of chatter filled his ears, vendors calling out their wares, adventurers clanking past in armor, children laughing.
Kaito's heart froze. He knew this place.
The fountain in the center. The blacksmith's forge on the corner. The banner hanging above the guild hall.
This was the starting town of Chosen Path.
He looked down at his reflection in the fountain's water. White hair. Red eyes.
Hunter.
The avatar he had created.
"…No way," Kaito whispered. His voice trembled, caught between awe and fear.
He wasn't playing Chosen Path anymore.
He was inside it.