For anyone who pys games, I believe there is always a game that leaves a sting impression.

  The favorite game, the most enjoyable game, the game with beloved characters.

  The reasons may vary, and of course, they differ even more when sidering genres and release years. But I think it's the bination of these various reasons that makes a game memorable.

  As someone who is about to turn 30, standing on the borderliween youth and middle age, a game enthusiast who, due to a busy job, has accumuted a backlog of games and is gradually drifting away from gaming, I sometimes find myself reminisg about a game.

  "Free Build Online"

  only known as FBO.

  A cssic sword-and-sorcery fantasy world where, from a multitude of skills, you figure a limited range of skills and equipment—timeless and never fading.

  Though marketed as a VRMMO, its online elements are limited to cooperating with other pyers os and trading items, essentially promoting solo py.

  The default is to adveh NPpanions in the game.

  Yet, it was the game that captivated me the most at the time, remains vivid in my memory, and represents the peak of my gaming life.

  If I were to talk about memorable games, this would be the one.

  Thanks to a breakthrough in the visual industry at a certain period, the game incorporated the essence of VR teology, a sense of realism that immersed pyers in its world.

  The game's tent, such as quering dungeons prepared by the operators athering materials in the field for crafting, might seem quite ordinary now, but back then, it was undoubtedly fresh and full of enjoyable elements for me.

  It's also true that the stories, thoughtfully crafted by the writers, were to my liking.

  The game was a ercial success, ranking high and being a topic of discussion at the time.

  It was once hailed as a divine game, though some also called it a crappy game duriain periods.

  Even as I speak of it now, it's a title that has joihe ranks of retro games, nostalgically remembered by enthusiasts like me.

  It's a game for which core fans like me still hope for a sequel.

  So, why am I talking about this nostalgic game now?

  "No way"

  Probably because I am now in the world of FBO.

  If I told someone else, they might think I'm crazy.

  But

  "This is the parade from the opening movie, right?"

  The excitement I felt when I first pyed the game is nht before my eyes.

  The difference is that instead of VR teology, it's real people walking, with sensory elements that VR couldn't replicate now more vivid.

  But no matter how real the atmosphere bees, I've seen it so many times that I 't be mistaken.

  Seeing such a se as a skinny, disheveled, and slightly dirty child might seem unreal, but the hunger I've been feeling and the cheers of the people tell me this is not a dream but reality.

  In the past, I had dreamed of entering the world of a game.

  If it were the world of FBO that I loved, I would have wished for it tless times.

  But i years, I don't recall having such wishes .

  Work is tough, but it's rewarding and the pay is satisfying.

  My retionships with colleagues, superiors, and subordinates are good.

  If I had to pin, it would be that I haven't had a girlfriend in several years, but otherwise, there are no issues.

  I don't remember being in an act; there was a novel I read where the protagonist died in an act ao another world.

  But my st memory is of being tired from work, taking a bath, and going to bed.

  I don't remember dying.

  So, is this a dream?

  That's not it either.

  The texture of the bricks I feel as I walk along the wall, the deafening cheers, the faint smell of life, and the dazzling parade—it's all too vivid to be a dream.

  "If it's a dream, then it's a very realistie."

  And in my mind, I'm sidering whether this being a dream or illusion is a problem.

  The clusion is that my mind is fine.

  I have attats to the real world.

  But the value of being able to e to the game world I admired in my youth is very important to me.

  Even though my body is in tatters, standing on the ground of this world is a joy.

  I don't know what happeo my inal body, but I hope I haven't done anything unfilial, and for now, I must face this reality that has bey aspiration.

  "Now, the problem is"

  Is everything good just because I've e to the world I admired? Not quite.

  "Was there such a character? Seriously, who is this?"

  The first issue is that I am not the protagonist.

  The protagonist, or the pyer's avatar, be set with various appearances.

  So, it's possible to create a character like me—a dirty, brown-haired, average-looking mob character, a skinny boy.

  But no matter the protagonist's appearahere's an absolutely ungeable onality.

  That is, the protagonist is a noble from the frontier.

  The story begins with the protagonist leaving home after the death of his mother, a e, making it difficult to stay in the noble house, aing off from their local territory.

  The region of birth ge based on the initial divine question at the start of the game, but the part about being from a noble house never ges.

  And before leaving home, the protagonist, led by his deceased mother, admired the parade I'm now seeing and spoke of aiming to bee an adventurer.

  In other words, up to that point, the protagonist was a member of the nobility.

  I, oher hand, look nothing like a noble, more like a vagrant or a street child.

  Moreover, when watg the parade, the protagonist was with their mother, viewing it from the window of an inn.

  It's not a situation where a child on the verge of colpse in an alley is watg from a distance.

  So, seriously, who am I?

  I remember the faces and names of the main characters, even from old games.

  This is a game I pyed thhly.

  I recall the appearances and personalities of even the named mob characters and the information I gained from reading the official guidebook.

  But even in my memory, there's no recolle of a character like the one reflected in the window gss, who might grow and ge iure, possibly being handsome.

  Therefore, it seems I've been reinated as an inal character, essentially a mob.

  "In that case, it's a start without any blessings."

  If I had been reinated as some character in FBO, I could have received help from someone, unless I drew a few unlucky characters.

  But this body doesn't even have parents.

  When I just woke up, I was starting in an alley, croug from hunger.

  No, that was a real tdown to starving to death.

  "Well, first, I o fill my stomach."

  I don't know who or where I am.

  I have no acquaintances.

  I feel guilty for taking over the body of a boy who must have lived a lonely life.

  So, after the parade passes and the pce quiets down, I'll pay my respects before moving on to the a. What's particurly needed is an effort to alleviate the hunger.

  "If that doesn't work, I'll really have to cross a dangerous bridge."

  It's my first time experieng a body on the verge of starvation, and I really have nth.

  Trag the faint memories of this body, there are recolles of sging through garbage bins for leftovers, and it really brings tears to my eyes.

  Staggering along the wall, I walk relying on my memories of pying the game.

  If this is where the opening parade is held, I figure out which city this is.

  "Ah, the detailed graphics are a bit vague, but seeing it like this, it's really a beautiful city. Yeah, just like this."

  I o hum something, or I might lose sciousness.

  Why did they reinate me in such a precarious body?

  I don't seek status, but I would have liked a healthier body.

  On top of an already weak body, I'm now a child with small steps.

  You imagihe walking speed.

  If I misremember and end up in a dead end, I'm really in trouble.

  "It's the royal capital, after all. If it's a city uhe king's direct trol, they should provide better care for orphans like me."

  Moreover, this is the royal capital of the southern ti's try, Rendel, with many simir streets.

  There are shops here and there that I don't remember.

  Are there many areas different from the game?

  So, if I get the dire wrong, I'm really done for.

  If I end my sed life like this, I wouldn't be able to rest in peace even after death.

  The people I occasionally pass by don't even g me, thanks to my shabby appearand the fact that I'm a muttering, small orphan.

  Well, really, how cold.

  Along the way, the smell from food stalls tickles my nostrils, making me even hungrier.

  If I stop, it's really bad; my instincts might pull me towards them, but thanks to the intimidating gaze of the stall owner, I woke up and could tiowards my destination.

  "pared to when I ying the game, there are so many more people. It's really hard to walk in a child's body."

  Even though it's an alley, it's right after the parade, so some people use it as a shortcut.

  Even on usually quiet streets, there are people passing by, chatting and ughing.

  I've used it as a shortcut in the game, but even in cooperative py, there was a limit to the number of people, so seeing the streets crowded like this is fresh.

  It feels fresh, but the sense of crisis is stronger.

  "...There are a lot of adventurers."

  Unlike soldiers, their clothing varies, but the onality is that most carry some kind of on.

  They're not carrying rge ons, but seeing people with real swords passing by is quite scary.

  I'm literally a child with zero bat ability.

  If I get involved with them, it's really the end.

  But it's no wohere are many adventurers.

  The royal family ruling this city, Rendel, were inally adventurers, so following that tradition, they support adventurers.

  In this game's world, the royal families of all tries trace back to adventurers.

  There's even a legend about them pi and cultivating the nd to establish the try, a famous story in the game.

  The Adventurer's Guild, as an anization, tio operate uhis long history, a remnant of the pi era.

  Hehe influence of the Adventurer's Guild in this world is not to be uimated.

  That's why so many people openly carry ons.

  "The reality of the world I admired, there's still a gap, huh."

  And even in the world I admired, there are terrifying aspects.

  FBO, as the title suggests, was fun because you could freely build your strength.

  Especially in bat, the effort put into building strength was signifit.

  versely, this is a world where you freely gain power.

  The reason lies iats, abilities gained by defeating monsters, the on enemies of the human ra this world.

  Leveling up and using the points gaio acquire abilities and bee stronger.

  The process is simple, but the breadth has tio expand with updates.

  Thanks to this, strength in this world is a status parable to wealth and power.

  Even in the game, the culture of stat supremacy is spoken of favorably.

  It's a meritocracy, but there are also a certain number of people troubled by it.

  Even noarent and child are quietly waiting for an adveo pass by, yielding the path.

  In this enjoyable world view, there's a dark side. This body doesn't have strength yet, but if my knowledge is applicable in this world, I should be able to hahat trouble .

  Believing that, I somehow keep moving, not stopping.

  "Good, my memory wasn't wrong."

  I finally reached my destination.

  In any case, with a weak and penniless body, I 't survive in this world.

  To fill my stomach or to bee stronger, I need moher way.

  A water pce, or rather, a washing area.

  Because many people went to see the parade, the pce is empty and I monopolize it.

  Here, there was a certai in the game era.

  It was more about testing the pyer's creativity than providing beginner relief.

  A method of raising funds that pyers joked about as choosiween practical bes or pride.

  "Well the's start the bald fundraising."

  To begin the so-called bald quest, I first start washing my dull and dirty hair in this washing area.