Alexander sighed.
"It's going to be another one of those days," he muttered as he looked to his side.
He was inside the tall glass building of Elor Tec, the biggest gaming company in the world.
The year was 2040, and this place was where history was being made or at least, where he was losing sleep while helping make it.
Alexander Gregory had worked on some of the company's biggest hits… Fall of Man, Demihuman Rebirth, Chronicles Of The Swordmaster's Youngest Son.
These were games that had made people believe again in virtual worlds.
Because of that, he was given a special title inside the company, not an official one, but one everyone used.
The "Debug Man."
He was the guy who fixed the problems no one else could.
Right now, he was buried deep in code for their latest project… Winter Lord Online.
This game wasn't just another fantasy MMO.
It was supposed to change gaming forever or at least that was what the director said.
Built on a new kind of neural link interface, it recreated a world during the Ice Age, when humans still lived in huge cave formations and fought to survive against beasts that could crush mountains.
Of course, this Ice Age wasn't anything like the one from textbooks.
In this one, monsters roamed… they were massive, otherworldly things that could lift entire trees, shatter stone, and breathe strange forms of energy.
Humanity wasn't weak either.
The cold had changed them and their bodies were tougher, faster, able to survive frost that would kill a normal person.
And in this world, there were two main Paths a person could take… Path of Steel, Warrior or Path Of The Stars, Magician.
Warriors were the brutes, those who fought with weapons, each mastering one weapon type until it became an extension of their soul.
Magicians were those who touched the unnatural… they bent energy into magic.
Each player had to choose, and within those Paths were rarer Classes… Fire Mage, Ice Knight, Frost Healer, and so on.
The rarest were the Chosen Ones, powerful heroes born from the will of the world itself, each with strange destinies and overwhelming power.
They were like the "gacha pulls" of the game. If you got one, you could practically beat the story.
Alexander had even helped write the lore for them, especially one of his favorites… the Lordess of Iskhtar Höhle, ruler of a great frozen territory deep beneath the glaciers.
Now, ironically, here he was, trying to fix the game's latest bug.
The beta testers had found an issue, some players were starting with three god-tier skills right out of the gate which were; [Master Control], [10x Exp] and [Chaos Body].
While they didn't sound powerful, this world prided on struggle and with those three… As long as you used them well… You wouldn't struggle a day in your life.
Those were supposed to be rare, event-only rewards.
No one should have them at level one.
But one thing led to another and now it was his problem to solve.
He sighed again and rubbed his eyes.
'This is going to take all night.'
Even worse, he wasn't alone in the office.
Across the dimly lit floor sat two people he didn't want to see… his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend.
They were both developers on the same project, sitting just a few seats away, supposedly doing finishing touches on the protagonist's avatar.
But instead of working, the only sound coming from their direction was…
smack… smack…
Kissing.
They were kissing.
At work.
He clenched his jaw and turned his attention back to the monitor.
"She cheated on me with this clown," he muttered. "And she's still doing this now? Petty woman."
He tried not to look, but he couldn't help catching glimpses of them out of the corner of his eye.
The guy was taller, sure.
Maybe he was better-looking too.
'So what?' Alexander thought bitterly. 'We're all working the same damn job.'
He shook his head and focused back on his screen.
'Alright, no distractions. Just find the bug, fix the bug, go home.'
The code for Winter Lord Online stretched endlessly before him, blue and white lines running like frozen rivers across the dark interface.
One wrong move and the entire server could crash.
The system was built on delicate threads that balanced weather simulation, monster behavior, player stats, and environmental reactions.
He scrolled slowly, tracing the pathways of the starter data tables.
'Come on… where are you hiding…'
His cursor flicked past hundreds of lines until he saw it… a misplaced flag sitting inside the spawn conditions for new players.
It was accidentally looping into a developer event tag.
That tag contained…
'There it is.'
He exhaled in relief.
"Finally found you."
All he had to do was delete the flag and recompile the script.
Easy.
He reached for his mouse, hovered over the command line, and clicked.
That was when his screen froze.
The cursor stopped moving. He clicked again but the monitor didn't respond, however the monitor began to glow.
"What the hell…?" he murmured, leaning closer.
The code vanished and the Winter Lord Online emblem appeared on his screen.
It was a crossed sword and staff over the rough hide of a frost beast, the company's signature logo.
The glow grew brighter.
"Wait—" Alexander said, reaching for the power button.
But before he could touch it, the light burst from the screen and swallowed him whole.
It wasn't just a flash, it felt like it pulled him.
His body lifted from the chair, weight vanishing as the air turned icy cold.
The entire room dissolved into white fog, and he felt himself falling… or maybe rising… he couldn't tell.
Everything blurred.
Then there was nothing.
There was only darkness.
…
He didn't know how long it lasted.
When he opened his eyes again, he was lying down.
Something soft was beneath his head. It was soft and warm, almost like a pillow.
His vision was hazy, the colors were strange, and there was a constant drip… drip… drip… somewhere close by.
Water?
It felt like droplets were falling on his face.
He groaned, trying to move, but his body didn't respond the way it used to.
His arms felt heavier.
His chest expanded with deep, steady breaths.
His skin tingled, and when he flexed his fingers, they cracked like old leather.
He sat up slowly, a sharp pain shooting through his waist.
His spine popped audibly.
"That feels a whole lot better," he muttered, instinctively stretching his arms. "Feels like I haven't moved in years."
When he opened his eyes fully, he froze.
He wasn't in the office anymore.
The air was cold… painfully cold.
The walls around him were made of crystal ice, glowing faintly with an inner blue light.
It looked like the inside of some massive cavern.
The floor was covered in thick pelts of beast fur, and faint mist curled around his feet.
And the soft thing his head had been resting on…
He turned and his breath caught.
A woman sat beside him.
She looked dazed, blinking slowly, her silver eyes glowing in the cold light.
Her hair, short and pale like fresh snow, was tied into a neat bob.
Her robe was made of beast hide and the neckline was low enough to show smooth, pale skin and the curve of her chest.
Even models from Earth couldn't compare to her beauty.
She didn't look real at all… more like someone drawn to perfection and given life.
She was watching him closely like she was in disbelief.
Alexander blinked back.
Neither of them spoke for a moment.
Then she moved her lips, her voice soft and trembling.
"My lord… you truly live, da?"
Alexander froze.
"…Huh???"