Reincarnated into the world of a game I played to death!
I was playing a game, and before I knew it, I was dead.
Jobs Recruit Online, commonly known as JRO.
It’s a world of swords and magic with over 1,000 types of professions. You get a job, acquire skills from that profession, and then change to an even stronger profession to advance your career.
However, unlike in the real world, once you obtain a profession, you’re guaranteed to get skills by leveling up or completing events with NPCs. And if your profession level caps out, you can always change jobs for a career upgrade, though it might require some microtransactions.
Back in college, I couldn’t find anything I wanted to do, and because of my communication disorder, I couldn’t make any friends. Despite getting into a university with decent enough entrance exam scores, I couldn’t answer the question “What did you put effort into during your student days?” My communication issues also flared up during other interview responses and summer internships, resulting in my real-world job hunt, which started in July of my third year of university, being a complete failure.
From then on, I got obsessively hooked on JRO.
During my college days, unable to make friends, I spent all my time at home just playing games.
What I especially loved was leveling. Defeating enemies, gaining experience points. I felt happiest when I was leveling up in the most efficient spot, calculated by hourly rates, while browsing the strategy wiki.
That was me, and after failing my job hunt, I gained what felt like an infinite amount of time. It was somewhat natural, you could say, that I ended up dedicating my life to gaming.
My average playtime per day was 20 hours.
Fortunately, since I went to a university in another prefecture, my parents didn’t bother me, but my monthly rent of 30,000 yen, along with other living expenses, was covered by a monthly allowance of 120,000 yen from them.
Although I wasn’t actually attending anymore, I managed to keep the allowance coming by lying to my parents, telling them I was taking a gap year to continue job hunting.
Even so, I could clearly see a future where that situation wouldn’t last much longer.
JRO wasn’t that popular, so even though I became the admin of its strategy wiki, using information I’d gathered from playing over 20 hours a day for about a year, I was making less than 50,000 yen a month on average.
Could I get on welfare? Or, worst-case scenario, should I fake depression and try to trick a psychiatrist into giving me a medical certificate? I was spending my days thinking such things, when one day…
I died, without any warning.
No, there were warnings. Having failed my job hunt and grown desperate, I had obsessively immersed myself in the world of JRO.
Only when I was playing JRO could I forget my painful reality. More than anything, the time I spent engrossed in that game—where acquiring professions and leveling up made me steadily stronger, rewarding me in a way that was visibly quantifiable—was incredibly fun.
That was me, spending over 20 hours every day, engrossed in JRO, in a room where blackout curtains blocked out the sunlight.
My meals consisted of CalorieMate and energy drinks. My average sleep per day was less than two hours.
I’d been living like that for over half a year. It wouldn’t be strange for a blood clot or two to form, and my heart would probably stop too.
If your heart stops, if your blood flow stagnates, a person dies.
Ah, back then… a few years ago, I used to think people who died from blood clots because they were too engrossed in games were idiots.
But for me to die for the exact same reason… that’s a masterpiece of irony.
Even though I was dying, I felt strangely good. No, maybe it’s not strange. Apparently, when people die, their brains release a flood of endorphins to escape the pain of death.
They say dying feels 200 times better than sex.
Though, having never had a girlfriend in my entire life, I wouldn’t know.
Ah, this is fun. It feels good.
My life was crap, but to die while engrossed in my favorite game, before having to face harsh reality again… I’m a lucky guy, huh.
Thinking such thoughts, I died—
◇
“Oh, he’s born! It’s a boy! You did great, Theresia!”
“Yes, dear.”
When I opened my eyes, a muscular, tanned old man with fiery red hair and burning eyes, and a beautiful woman-san with purple hair and blue eyes were looking at me joyfully.
? What’s this situation? …I was sure I died…
No, wait, was I not dead in the first place? That can’t be right. To begin with, I had no friends who would visit my room, and my parents never came to visit either.
If I collapsed, I was the kind of person who would basically die, rot away, and only be discovered when neighbors reported a “foul odor.”
In that case, is this a dream I’m seeing at the moment of death? No, it’s not a dream. I have no proof, but intuitively, I can tell this isn’t a dream.
So then, reincarnation? I died, so is this that whole transmigration of souls thing?
My family certainly practiced Buddhism, and I myself hadn’t achieved any enlightenment, so I wouldn’t become a Buddha. …I don’t recall accumulating any virtue in my past life either, so I feel like someone like me would be reborn as an insect or something… No, actually, perhaps humans are the destination for creatures with the least virtue. Humans are crap, after all.
For now, assuming I have been reincarnated… where was I born?
I hear a newborn’s eyesight is about 0.6—what I see in my dim, blurry vision is an old man with hair as red as flames and a woman with purple hair.
The language they’re speaking sounds like Japanese, but their appearances are far from Japanese. Especially their overly vibrant hair colors are not just un-Japanese, but un-Earthling even.
Even if it’s dyed, their taste is bad. Was I born to some delinquents? At the very least, there’s no way Earthlings with hair colors like these aren’t crazy.
Hm? No, wait a minute? …I feel like I’ve seen this old man’s face somewhere before.
Where was it?
“Height! Your name is Height Duekhardt!!”
“U-uwaaaaaaaah (Due-Duekhardt!?)”
If you say Duekhardt, that’s the super martial-focused Marquis house in JRO!
Numerous strong character NPCs, starting with Irene Duekhardt, have come from this house. In that case, this old man must be Argio Duekhardt!!
His own strength isn’t that high, but for someone you meet in a recommended level 50 range quest, his base stats are high-standard, and he possesses the ‘General’ profession, which can be called quite useful!
Does that mean I was born as a child of the Dukeheart House?
So, does that mean I’ve been reincarnated into the world of JRO!?
Seriously?! This is an amazing plot development!!
I see. Into the world of JRO, which I loved so much….
Unfortunately, I don’t know any character named Height… I was confident I knew all the characters, but I don’t know if he’s a character I just hadn’t learned about yet, if he was simply a mob, or perhaps an original character created due to my reincarnation.
But, that doesn’t matter.
After all, I’ve been reincarnated into the world of JRO!!
I have no choice but to play it to the fullest. There’s no option other than to enjoy it as much as I can!
My aim is to become the strongest, surpassing the level cap! With the knowledge I have of this game from running its strategy wiki, that shouldn’t be impossible!!
I never believed in it before, but thank you! Amaterasu-omikami-sama! Buddha-sama! In this world, I can live life to the fullest!!