Chapter 1

「You have unified a divided world. The world, united by your hard work and dedication, will surpass the glory of the past.」

“Ugh, it's finally over.”

I stretched as I watched the ending credits roll.

The playthrough I had been on for a long fifteen days after work had just concluded.

It was a playthrough solely for filling out all the achievements, so it was a little less fun.

Still, upon achieving the final achievement I had failed to get until now, a pleasant sense of elation spread throughout my body.

The name of the game I had been playing until just a moment ago was .

It was an action strategy simulation game where you become a character in the game, grow your power, and conquer the world.

The Siberia Empire, once the center of the world, was shattered when the emperor died without an heir.

The game's objective was to survive in an era of warring lords where ambitious men thrive and to build your own faction.

However, the degree of freedom was so high and the main scenario's progression wasn't forced, so you could create your own story with all sorts of concept plays like a lord, a merchant, or a mercenary.

And the core of this game.

.

This system changed the characters' relationships, favorability, and interests with each new playthrough.

Thanks to this, the situations and events you encountered were different every time, so even repeated plays were not boring.

For these reasons, was highly rated, considered one of the hits of the year despite its high difficulty, and even had an active user community.

I, too, had seen almost every ending after playing for over thousands of hours, but I planned to play it more in the future.

“So, what kind of playthrough should I try this time?”

It was then that the ending credits finished and I returned to the main screen.

A new notification popped up at the bottom of the screen.

A single phrase caught my eye.

「Final Achievement Unlocked: You have met the last hidden condition. A hidden character will be unlocked.」

What?

A hidden condition? A hidden character?

Was there something like that in ?

I was a gamer who was serious about getting achievements.

If there was an unfulfilled achievement, I'd go crazy, to the point where I'd even do a boring playthrough just to hunt for achievements.

On the thought that a new achievement might have opened up, I quickly went into the character creation screen.

Indeed, just as the notification said, a boy I had never seen before was standing in the character creation screen.

His appearance wasn't important right now, so I skimmed past it.

More importantly, I had to see what kind of traits the character had.

I had to check just what was there for a character hidden until the very end in .

I quickly opened the trait window, saw the result, and was very disappointed.

「Name: Please enter a name.

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Age: 16

Occupation: Student

Origin: Imperial Capital」

「Formal Knight: B

You are a warrior recognized by people.

You can take down a few people even by yourself.

─ Might +5

─ Horsemanship Learned

─ Increased Reflexes」

​

「Noble Bloodline: B

Be careful of what's behind you.

Your bloodline alone is a threat to other competitors.

─ Intellect +5

─ Followed by a tracker: Increased assassination risk

─ Penalty to initial funds」

「Advanced Education: B

You have received a much more advanced education than others.

People feel a sense of grace from your every gesture and action.

─ Academics +5

─ Ancient Language Learned Perfectly

─ Imperial Palace Etiquette Learned Perfectly」

​

「Descendant of an Angel: A

There is a legend that your family is descended from a god.

You will surely be canonized as a saint after you die.

─ Charm +5

─ Increased Fame

─ Increased favorability with religious people」

「Final Stats

Might 15

Academics 12

Intellect 12

Charm 12」

​

“Ooh.”

An exclamation of admiration escaped me automatically.

The traits this character possessed were all good ones.

The Ancient Language was a language that intellectuals in the game had to learn.

It was difficult to master, but once you did, it was great for gaining favorability with high-ranking individuals.

The same went for the Imperial Palace Etiquette.

In the game, the imperial palace of the Siberia Empire was a place that led the latest trends and was an object of admiration.

And it went without saying for the Descendant of an Angel, which allowed you to get close to the religious world.

The fact that there was a tracker or a penalty to initial funds would raise the early-game difficulty, but since traits could grow or change with experience, it wasn't a problem.

Moreover, from the perspective of someone who had played for a long time, it was clear that those penalties would later return as ample rewards.

“The stats are insane, too.”

In , where the growth direction is determined by initial traits, the average starting stat for a character was below 10.

Considering that the maximum stat you could get without buffs or items was 50, and you were called a genius even with just 30, this was a pretty good start.

In other words, this character was an all-rounder type who was safe and whose future growth was anticipated.

The developers must have intended that when they assigned the traits.

“But if they just give you all this, it's not fun.”

However, as good as it was, the character was too ordinary and safe.

I didn't know if it was amazing enough for the developers to have hidden it away.

It would have made more sense if it was a setup for beginners.

For a reward given only after completing an achievement, it was shoddy.

Usually, a gamer who completes a hidden achievement would be quite skilled at the game.

I could immediately think of several characters that would be more fun to play than this one.

But something was strange.

If a character like this had appeared, it would have become a hot topic somewhere, so it didn't make sense that I hadn't known about it until now.

I paused the game for a moment and went to an online community to search for related information.

But…….

「Search results: None」

Did I really find it for the first time?

I quickly took a screenshot and posted it on the user community.

As expected of a hit game, there were gamers active even at this late hour, and comments were posted quickly.

「(Question) Has anyone unlocked this achievement character?

(Attached photo)

─ What, did a DLC come out?

─ Aren't you a beta tester? Are you allowed to post stuff like this?

─ Played for 1,000 hours, never seen it

─ Played for 10,000 hours, I haven't seen it either

─ The main company's gonna come get you now lol

─ Reporting you gl

─ This is a troll. Feel good lying, you bastard?

─ Crazy gaming addict lol what did you do

─ Mister, please... get a life...

─ Please don't just stay at home, go outside and get a job」

​

As expected, it was filled with worthless replies.

They just treated me as a troll, a fraud, and an attention seeker.

Ugh.

Such replies.

Right, what was I expecting from here?

The comment section was quickly overrun with troll posts.

​

「─ Hey, if you show proof, I'll believe you lol

─ This is all fake. I datamined everything and there was nothing like it. No way the devs would've made something like this.

─ Seriously, these devs, they should be locked up somewhere and forced to develop. They just go out and play instead of working, right?

─ (Fact) There was a bug fix update 2 weeks ago;;

─ Mom, I wanna be an emperor when I grow up Mom, I wanna be an emperor when I grow up Mom, I wanna be an emperor when I grow up Mom, I wanna be an emperor when I grow up」

​

Before I knew it, my question was pushed aside, and the users were fighting among themselves in the comments.

A complete disregard.

Thinking that no more meaningful discussion would come out of it, I returned to the game.

Unlike a moment ago when I was disappointed after checking the unlocked character, I was now full of energy.

It might be useless, though.

A competitive spirit, wanting to make them acknowledge me no matter what, overflowed.

“Just you wait. You unbelievers who only believe what you see with your own two eyes. I'll upload a gameplay video soon.”

To prove my post, I turned on the recording software first.

Then, the moment I was about to press the character creation button.

The 'me' as a gamer stood in my way.

“But this character is just too boring.”

When you play a game for a long time, you've already tried most kinds of playthroughs, so you're bound to get bored unless it's something special.

​Even more, this character had an ordinariness and safeness that made it seem like it would be fine no matter what kind of playthrough you did.

That was the problem.

The possibility of becoming anything meant, conversely, the possibility of becoming mediocre at everything.​

My last playthrough was already not fun, and now this one won't be fun either?

That would be a sin against my soul.

That kind of thing is a waste of time.

​If I'm going to do it anyway.

“Maybe I should change the traits a bit.”

In that moment, a thought suddenly flashed through my mind.

It was the idea to do the opposite of what the developers gave me since they intentionally gave me only good things.

The gameplay would become more difficult, but it was for testing purposes anyway, and it wasn't like the data would get corrupted.

“That's a crazy idea, isn't it? Let's do it right now.”

An uncontrollable impulse welled up from within.

It felt like something was forcibly guiding my hand.

I moved my fingers, led by the strong impulse.

“Let's see.”

provided a basic character customization function.

You could pay points to add traits or change the rank of your existing traits.

How to get points?

You just had to delete or lower the rank of your existing traits.

As for appearance, well, there's no need to change it.

Perhaps because there were so many handsome men and beautiful women in the game, the base model was quite good-looking.

Click, clack.

And so, a completely new character was created.

「Fledgling Knight: F

Please get some exercise.

Going outside and getting some sun is also important for the body.

─ Might -10

─ Horsemanship Penalty

─ Reflexes Penalty」

​

「Deficient Bloodline: F

You possess a more superior bloodline than anyone, but there is no need to watch your back.

You are not a threat to other competitors.

─ Intellect -5

─ Safe

─ Have decent initial funds」

​

「Lacking Education: F

You dozed off in class rather than focusing.

Still, someone likes that side of you more.

─ Academics -5

─ Ancient Language Learned (Beginger)

─ Court Etiquette Learned (Beginger)」

The moment the overall stats became trivial, a new notification popped up, and the ‘Descendant of an Angel’ trait evolved into its complete opposite.

「You have met a hidden condition! Descendant of an Angel evolves into Descendant of a Demon!」

「Descendant of a Demon: B

There is a legend that the blood of a demon is mixed in your bloodline.

There is no way to prove if the legend is true, but people listen to your words more than others.

─ Charm +10

─ Increased initial notoriety

─ Bonus to Command, Persuasion, and Intimidation」

No way, I've played this game for so long, and there was still hidden content I didn't know about?

Thinking about it, it was only natural.

No one would have thought of playing with the worst stats on purpose.

I wouldn't have discovered it either if it wasn't by chance.

The conditions just happened to be met.

I clicked my tongue at the developers' viciousness and checked if the video was recording properly.

If I release this, I should be able to take first place on the strategy forums for this month.

More importantly.

“Descendant of a Demon, huh.”

It wasn't intentional, but I ended up creating a character heavily skewed towards Charm.

Charm in doesn't simply mean appealing to the opposite sex.

It's a stat that encompasses speech, appearance, personality, presence, and more.

The higher the value, the higher the probability of succeeding in seducing, persuading, or negotiating with an opponent.

In other words, you could say it has the potential to become a negotiation pro, a swindler, a bargaining expert, or a playboy.

Hmm, not bad.

It's much more interesting than the original character.

In that case, let's develop this personality a bit more.

This time, I lowered the levels of the other traits even further and invested all the points I got as a reward into Descendant of a Demon.

Tiring.

「Descendant of a Demon: B → Promoted to SS

─ Charm +40

─ Increased initial notoriety

─ Bonus to Command, Persuasion, and Intimidation」

Alright, character complete!

「Final Stats

Might 5

Academics 8

Intellect 8

Charm 50」

Hmm.

Even to me, this is a pretty deformed style of character.

Plus, the Might is downright miserable.

In , a Might of 5 is at a level where you can barely manage a draw fighting a mountain hare.

If the stat drops below that, you enter a patient state, so 5 can be considered the practical lowest point.

But I've played as a swordsman so much that I'm sick of it.

I don't plan on doing that this time.

Instead, the abnormally high Charm stat will compensate for the other shortcomings.

Or not.

「Create Character」

「Creating Character」

「Creating World」

「Please Wait a Moment」

Now, what kind of playthrough will I end up with?

Thinking about it made my heart pound.

I hope it's not too easy.

The moment I smiled like that.

Suddenly, the computer screen went out.

Instead, only a screen shining pure white came into view.

The moment I felt like my consciousness was being sucked into that screen, I lost consciousness.

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