《Character Overload》 Prologue In the year 2097, Throne of Gods became the most popular game in the world, with a little over five hundred million players. An open word MMORPG experience that allowed virtually anything to happen. The top two players of the game far surpassed the third player, not to mention the fourth or fifth, but that was to be expected. The two greatest characters in the world were actually the same person who had two accounts. Although nobody knew that he was also the greatest cheater in the world. The game had placed a level cap of 255 on character levels, job levels, and skill levels. Onima Kurokan removed these limiters from his character and spawned in items that could not be acquired by normally playing the game. Previously, he had never gotten the attention of the game developers, but today was different. Onima looked at a popup that appeared on his computer screen.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°We have detected illegal editing of program data. You have been permanently banned from Throne of Gods. Have a nice day.¡± ¡°F-f-f-f-f-f-f******.¡± Onima slammed his fists into the table. His notifications were already booming from various forums that he signed up on. He decided to just go to sleep and push today¡¯s problems to tomorrow¡¯s him. He laid on his bed and shut his eyes trying to sleep with his mind in chaos. It didn¡¯t help that a bright light suddenly seared through his eye lids. He opened his eyes and found that a new popup had appeared on his monitor. ¡°Did you enjoy the game?¡± There were two options underneath only labeled as Yes and No. To Onima, this felt like a slap to the face. His temper got the best of him and he moved his cursor to click the No option. No other popups came after that one. He went back to his bed and tried to sleep again. His consciousness slowly wavered as he fell into a deep slumber. Chapter 1 Clang, Clang, Clang! ¡°Rise and shine, it¡¯ll be your turn next.¡± A guard rattled the cell bars with his sword, shaking Onima from his sleep. Onima¡¯s eyes shook as they slowly opened, taking in the view of his surroundings. He dimly saw a few lines streaking across his vision with a blob beyond the lines. His sight slowly cleared as his mind cleared from the grogginess built up from his slumber. He took in a deep breath and inhaled the scent of... iron? His eyes snapped open as Onima realized that he was in an unfamiliar environment, different from where he fell asleep. He heard the sounds of boots stomping against a muddy ground, creating a sloshy sound that reverberated through the long hallway his cell was connected to. He noticed that his cell bars were made of what looked like iron except it was coated in a thick layer of rust. The cell itself wasn¡¯t like what he had seen online in modern jails. The walls were made of crude cut stone that was layered irregularly. It felt like the construction of the cell was rushed. A stack of clothes that seemed like they were thrown there a long time ago. They were covered with a light, visible layer of dust. It was at this moment when Onima realized that he had no clothes on. He was bare-back naked with nothing on. Sprinting to the stack of clothes, he hurriedly pulled them on and tried to organize his thoughts. The last thing he remembered was going to sleep after being banned from the only game he ever dedicated his time too. A game where he enjoyed so much that the normal features of the game were no longer enough for him. The mere ability to win over his opponents easily no longer appealed to him. He wished to completely and utter dominate his opponents without them being able to retaliate at all. Onima suddenly felt very frustrated remembering this when a ding sounded inside of his head, creating a weird looking panel in front of his eyes, but even if it was a weird looking panel, he recognized it instantly. It was the cheat menu he had created for the game Throne of Gods. It had three tabs, respectively labeled Status, Cheats, and Accounts. Finally seeing something familiar out of all the unfamiliar things made him feel comfortable. He reached his hand out to touch his own creation, only to pass straight through. Astonished, he waved his hand through his menu multiple times, each time only to pass straight through like trying to catch mist. It spread out into pieces and came back together after the disturbance stopped. It¡¯s not a computer monitor? He thought. At this time, it finally hit him what kind of a situation he was in. He was in an unknown place at an unknown time for an unknown reason. He felt his emotions start to flare¡­ or should have started to flare. He felt nothing, it was as if something was preventing this certain emotion he wanted to feel from surfacing. His cheat menu shook slightly in front of his eyes as the tab switched to the ¡°Cheats¡± tab and an option glowed for an instant before changing to a gray color. It was labeled as:Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. +++ Emotion Suppression +++ And had a tiny switch that he could set on and off. He realized that a cheat he had implemented into his menu to help in game was actually appearing in real life. Emotion Suppression was suppose to stop his character from feeling any negative emotion in any environment to prevent any bad debuffs from occurring. Of course there were items in the game that also helped prevent this, but there was no item that completely and utterly stopped it from happening at all. Onima wanted to turn it off so he tried a different tactic. He remembered that in all light novels that had a menu of some sort, rather than being able to physically touch the menu, they all had to ¡°will¡± the menu to change. It was more efficient and allowed for quicker changes. He tested his theory, mentally crossing his fingers that it would work, and, surprisingly, it did! He could feel his mind connecting with the menu as a link was formed. He could freely change through the tabs of the menu now. He switched to the ¡°Status¡± tab to see basic information about his statistics and other info. +++ Stats Name: ??? Job: ??? Level: ??? Health: ??? Mana: ??? Stamina: ??? Abilities: ??? +++ This info was shown at the top followed by a list of other bits of information Onima programmed his cheat to receive. Although he noticed that all of the usual text in his menu was replaced by ???. He did not know the reason that his flawless menu was suddenly act weird, but he tried to push that thought back to his head, trying to explain it by acting as if it was happening on purpose. He didn¡¯t intend to do that, but his menu was nearly the only thing he cared about after so many years, he wanted it to be perfect, to have no mistakes. Something he could look up to and not have anything to improve upon. He had a slight complex about the perfection of his menu. He tried to mentally flip the switch that was labeled ¡°Emotion Suppression¡± off, but it wouldn¡¯t budge. He could feel the connection with the menu, but it felt like he had no control over the state of ¡°Emotion Suppression¡±. Right when he was about to explore the rest of the options available in his menu, he heard the sloshing footsteps of the guard earlier once again, stopping in front of his cell. The guard jingled some keys as he picked out a specific one that unlocked Onima¡¯s cell door. Then he proceeded to unlock the door and pulled it open, turning to proceed down a long, dark hallway that reeked of old blood, stains of dried brown spots flowing all along the walls. Without looking back, the guard ordered, ¡°Follow me.¡± Onima¡¯s shoeless feet started squelching as they stepped on the waterlogged ground. Each step echoing down the dark hallway that he had stepped into. There were long rows of cells on each of him, but even so, it was eerily quiet. The only sounds that could be heard was the sound of his steps and the guard¡¯s steps. Each of the cells he passed were empty, the only evidence that a human being had ever been in them was the scratching that ran across the walls and bars of every cell, some even had puddles of blood that had something small crawling within them. The long hallway seemed to stretch to infinity, each step taking a little bit of energy from Onima. His sight of the hallway blurred as he walked. He blinked once, twice, his vision fading away as he walked. He took one last blink before he suddenly appeared before a door. The guard fumbled with his keyring as he picked one particularly devious looking key. Inserting the key into the door, he pulled it open while turning to face Onima, ¡°Take one, move on to the next room after.¡± The opening door revealed a room stocked with weapons. The weapons ranged from old rusty weapons that still had stains on them to dull weapons that didn¡¯t seem like they could cut through anything. When Onima hesitated a moment to enter the room, the guard gave him a shove and Onima fell into the room. Closing the door, the guard locked it and left Onima to his own devices in the room. Onima knew the guard left as he heard the jingle of keys fade off into the distance. Chapter 2 In front of Onima lay an assortment of different weapons, ranging from swords on his left to maces on his right. Axes spread around leaned against walls. Spears, halberds, and staves along with other long weapons stacked side by side in the back of the room. Each weapon was stained by both scent and sight, covered with a thick layer of rust and blood. Each blade duller than a butter knife. Even sitting on the blade wouldn¡¯t cause much discomfort. Every weapon had its story, all the stories were dark and bloody. Their aura radiated a blood thirst that would fire off the danger instincts of any animal that came near. This room he was in was one that many had stepped in before they died. ¡­ (Onima POV) My noise soured up as I inhaled the stale air wretched with the smell of iron. I¡¯m sure that the only reason fear has not paralyzed me is solely because of my mysterious cheat menu. Every time I looked at a weapon, I could feel an option to open up extra information about each weapon. Testing it on a small sword nearby, I willed the option to activate. +++ Name: Rusted Short Sword Durability: C+ Quality: C+ Description: A rusted short sword created en masse that has been used countless times to slay. Abilities: None Enchantments: None +++ Looking around the room, showing the details for every weapon, there were none with durability or quality over C+. They were all of the same quality and durability. I decided to just pick up the closest sword that I had inspected earlier. The guard from earlier told me to move on to the next room after picking my weapon, it looks like there¡¯s a door behind all these weapons piled on the side. I carefully moved all the weapons blocking the door to the other side of the room, so they don¡¯t fall and create a large amount of noise. The door itself was a very simple looking wooden door with single handle and had no lock. I moved to pull the door open when the handle popped straight off. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°...eh?¡± I tried to put the handle back on, but every time, it just fell straight off again. I gently set the handle on the side of the door hoping that no one would notice and directly pulled the door open using the hole now inside of the door. CRREEEAAAAK The hinges of the door were rusted as well, causing it to squeak abnormally louder than usual. Short sword on my side, I took a long, deep breath as I walked through the door. ??? In a grandly decorated room near Onima ¡°Who is the next champion that is facing ¡®The Giant¡¯?¡± ¡°It is an unknown male who was found sprawled in the streets of the city. None of the local residents had recognized the unidentified male, your majesty.¡± ¡°Is he strong enough to provide me entertainment at least?¡± ¡°Even our strongest mages were unable to identify his skill level or name. His status menu could not be opened, although he looks weak as well. It is uncertain how strong he is, your majesty.¡± ¡°Oh? Then I shall pray that he is not a bore to watch. Send him in.¡± ¡°Yes, your majesty.¡± Two men were talking from within the room. One was sitting on a tall throne wearing a long decorated down and a crown studded with 4 different colored jewels in a rhombus pattern in the center and smaller jewels studding evenly along the sides of the crown. The other man was standing with his head bowed before the first man, feeling slightly oppressed. The man in the throne seat was the current tyrant of the Draiven Kingdom, King Helkrem. The man below him was his royal advisor, Marquis Zamur. They were discussing a monthly event that occurred within the kingdom, hosted by the king''s order to provide him entertainment and money from the payment of admission from the citizens. The Giant was the reigning champion that had defeated every last champion before him and every last challenger that has ever been brave or foolish enough to battle him. A king that ruled by fear, there has been no king like that who has had a peaceful end... ??? Achoo! Uh, someone must be talking about me. Crossing the door was pretty anticlimactic, it just led to another room that seemed like a reception room, well, minus all the blood and gore along the walls. On the wall across from the door that I just walked through was steel grating that only had a single unlockable door. The room was void of anyone else, with a single bench on the right side of the room facing me. It was really weird feeling nothing, having suppressed emotions when in a situation that would normally excite many emotions is, quite frankly, disturbing. However, that was suppressed as well. I took at a seat down on the uncomfortable wooden bench. It was stuck to the ground somehow as if it was glued, but there were no traces of glue anywhere around the bench. This room tugs on something in my memory, but I¡¯m not too sure what it is. It feels familiar, but I can¡¯t recall why. Slosh, slip, slosh. I hear footsteps coming closer to here. Is something going to happen? I¡¯m still curious where I am and what I¡¯m doing here. Maybe these guys can answer my questions. A big burry man in partial armor covering mostly his chest and groin area stopped outside of the door. He opened the door silently and motioned for me to follow him as I did. I tried to communicate with him during the journey to wherever we were going, but he ignored all my questions and stayed completely silent the whole trip. The tunnel he led me through was quite narrow, the man leading me could just barely fit through. As we walked, it gradually grew wider and taller as it opened out into a... coliseum?