NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1
“Wow, damn… even these bastards at Chaos Point are truly malicious! Complete save reset for achievements, special items for achievement resets in the collection??”
Chik!!
My mouth felt parched, and my mind was hazy as I roughly opened a Can Cola.
The refreshing drink going down my throat helped a bit, but… as my head cleared and I roughly calculated the rounds I needed to progress and the time required for each, my hand holding the mouse started trembling.
“Really… you crazy bastards! What are you hiding so tightly…!!”
There exists a “masterpiece” game of the century made by the developers of Neo Haven, Chaos Point, that stands out as both an outstanding and utterly disastrous game in gaming history.
You might ask how a game can be both a masterpiece and a disaster at the same time, but the evaluations from both game holders and critics were exactly split down the middle. The community’s overall assessment also reached a “complex” status according to its merits.
Nickname: Kisshawado
Rating: Recommended
Play Time: 3,782 hours
Content: I still don’t really know how to play it well;; I’ll play a bit more and come back to write again ㅇㅇ.
Nickname: PerfectChallengeAddict
Rating: Not Recommended
Play Time: 10,335 hours
Content: F**king insane psychopath bastards!!!!!! At this rate, I’m going to burst and die, please…!!! Overall achievement rate is stuck at 99.97%!!!!
Nickname: BarkatFailure
Rating: Not Recommended
Play Time: 14,627 hours
Content: Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!
Nickname: GamedOutCrazy6974
Rating: Recommended
Play Time: 1,234 hours
Content: A little difficult to play, whining and giving it a bad rating, lol. I hit my playtime, so I’ll come back when Neo Haven 2 comes out, s**t.
Nickname: GamedOutCrazy6974
Rating: Not Recommended
Play Time: 12,345 hours
Content: doal.
…The game has been out for a while, so if negative reviews that came up at launch were written by those who couldn’t handle the hardcore RPG’s intensity, it seems that now, the more one puts life into it, the more they are prone to outbursts.
But? After thoroughly searching the reviews, discussion boards, and the Neo Haven community, I felt immensely relieved.
It seemed that I alone had returned for the final journey after achieving the terrifying wall of a 99.99% completion rate in Neo Haven.
Click…! Tick-tock…
I manipulated the mouse and keyboard to activate the cyberware embedded in the character. This insane game didn’t even have a basic user interface. If you wanted to pop up necessary information, you had to install the corresponding cyberware, and to use cyberware, you had to have the right implants, and to get implants, you had to earn credits, the in-game money….
Moreover, despite the game’s background being a future world dominated by corporations after a great war, if your character’s specs were lacking, the difficulty of battles could vary immensely based solely on pure aim skill.
“Ha…”
As I thought about it, a brief moment of zen came over me, and I let out a sigh. But upon seeing the blueprints for a building I had found after all sorts of hardships, my heart swelled once again.
[ Dimensional Rift Interference Device ]
[ Materials: Void Mineral (0/10), Carbon Nanotube (0/200), Samples of Modified Humans from Enema Corporation (0/20), Operational Circuit Boards from Exatech (0/500), ……… ]
I knew very well what was needed. The materials might have been annoying to gather, but I could collect them slowly while progressing towards the ending. What currently bothered me was… the overall completion rate in my Neo Haven that had turned to rags due to the two resets.
“Let’s see… Mega Cop’s star conquest ending, the lawless ending based on karma… and the Great Union ending….”
Over ten long years, this devil of a game had tormented gamers worldwide, and the most definitive proof of completion would be just one thing. 100% full clear.
“Alright…! I can do it!!”
Food? Just looking at three boxes of instant noodles makes me gasp for air.
Drinking water? I brought various large PET bottles from the convenience store for variety.
Sleep? There’s a bed right behind my chair. The cramped room actually makes things convenient at such times.
Bathroom? Of course, I’ll just go when I need to….
Having finished all the necessary preparations, I returned to the main menu briefly to create a new character profile before continuing to tackle Neo Haven.
“Hmmm… honestly, for the physical-related stats that can max out with implants in the later game, let’s keep them to a minimum! Instead, let’s pump up charisma and luck? If we can maximize intelligence and implant adaptability with the laboratory-born traits… done!”
Charisma that increases the basic affinity of all NPCs and the persuasion rate of conversations.
Luck that provides positive adjustments for random encounters, critical hits, and probability-based events.
Finally, I picked various traits to maximize strengths and compensate for weaknesses; even long-time players with more playtime than I would find no fault with it.
Once I finished distributing stats and character background settings, the physical appearance setting tab popped up.
Even if I already knew all the strategies for every story and quest, how to collect all the items, it would surely take at least a month. And if I set up the customization perfectly at the start? There would be no need to change my appearance during gameplay, boosting my motivation; isn’t that the best?
…Customization is a major matter.
“After all, male characters fit the exo-skeleton suit better…! Mmm!!”
Click!
Thinking of the very reasonable and only reason I had to choose a male character, I dove right into customizing my life female character.
Implant tattoos and holographic irises that could be selected according to the character background were a given. A slightly wild short haircut, delicate facial features, and a little bit of height reduction to receive a bit of a dodge adjustment instead of a body stat made for crawling… and a personally perfect character was born.
If I were to clear the game and even verify it, I felt like my taste would be revealed to an unspecified number of people… but anyway, the gaming industry is dominated by female character enthusiasts. I think it’s perfectly fine…!
“The character’s name should be… pretty yet meaningful… let’s see… ah.”
I placed a somewhat long yet famous name into the blinking blank.
Anastasia, meaning resurrection. My avatar that would return and race towards the ending after witnessing countless deaths and endings.
Thus… a life akin to that of a Neo Haven junkie continued for several weeks.
While conducting quests or scenarios I had not done in a while, I made a few mistakes, collecting the hidden Easter eggs or items that the developers had desperately concealed, and tried to deduce the true ending… I would halt all heroine affinities just before maxing them, and felt guilty while rapidly clearing using the save load technique.
When I overcame the game’s brutal unfairness with sheer luck, I cheered with joy even though no one was watching, and when it came to the ending that sacrificed all companions… even though it felt like I had seen it over ten times, tears still welled up.
“After all… there’s a reason it’s called a life game…!!”
[Do you want to install the Dimensional Rift Interference Device? (Y/N)]
The Great Union ending scenario that combines all the mega corporations rooted in Emerald City under the player’s leadership. Only after boarding the orbital elevator to the space station with the essential materials did the blueprint finally activate.
As I momentarily immersed myself in the experience and stopped my manipulations, Anastasia, set against the vast universe, checked her surroundings and ensured the cyberware was activated.
There was no need for hesitation.
Click.
“Y!!”
[Do you really want to install the Dimensional Rift Interference Device? (Y/N)]
“……Huh?”
Asking the option again to someone running a recording program while expecting a grand finale? It’s so typical of Chaos Point, the master of global trolling.
Once more. With a stronger hit on the keyboard, I intended to let them know not to mess around.
[Seriously. Do you want to install the Dimensional Rift Interference Device? (Y/N)]
“…Damn.”
Tatattatat!!
I just started slamming the keyboard. They might say I lack respect for my life game, but… once I felt like the end was in sight, I relaxed and grew tired. I’d need to check what I was asked when I later looked at the recorded video.
– Welcome to Neo Heaven Prime, Miss Anastasia 🙂 –
It seemed that a new term flickered by, but I had no time to care.
The code in my inventory and the materials stacked in the station disappeared, and the 3D printer that had been installed in the era when nations and governments still existed went into overdrive.
A colossal machine appeared, filling the entire screen, as if it were about to show the ending, the camera that strayed away from my controls pulled back slowly, capturing the image of Anastasia turning to look back… and then faded to darkness.
“……”
As the ending credits rolled up and a 100% achievement message appeared at the bottom, my consciousness also faded into darkness.
Damn, to think I praised this crap game and poured my youth into it…! Of course, it was fun while playing, but now my grand plan of submitting the recorded video to patch my gaping living expenses…!!
– Project Anastasia is being discarded. All researchers at Enema Corporation evacuate calmly, following the directives of the dispatched Tactical Suppression Strike Force (QROF) and… –
In my unclear consciousness, a dim panorama played.
The view from the perspective of a girl in a test tube looking down at a pristine lab setting was not dynamic, but I was surprised by the sight of people in yellow protective suits aligning in a corner, then being shot on command from the black strike force.
The appearance of a corporate military unit signified that they intended to erase everything left behind; what were they doing?
“You… will never… recover her!! A failure? An early defect?! To those who insult our goddess, I wouldn’t even spare Ground Zero…!”
As one person, who endured with only an air filter in their mouth for the released biochemical gas, touched the red panel in a convulsion, a blinding flash swallowed them.
“Ah…?”
I awakened in the ruins of the lab as Anastasia.