“What, are you stupid?”

Those were the words spoken to me the day I asked the girl I was interested in out. She completely dismissed me. I could only stare in shock as she laughed and then walked back to her group of friends. She whispered a few words, all of them turned to me and then laughed.

Ow… that really hurt. We had worked on a project together. I had even done most of the work while she went to her cheerleading finals. In the end, I had gotten her full marks. I really thought that would have meant something. However, when seeing the disdain on her face now, I realized that she had just used me.

After school, I got my ass beaten by the school sports team. How should I know that a guy on the baseball team liked the girl, and took offense to me asking? Wasn’t the fact that she rejected me enough? Apparently not, because the bullies said I needed to be shown my place in the world.

“Don’t even try to talk to her again, fatty.” The guy in charge kicked me one last time while I was already in a fetal position.

Classy.

After getting thrashed, I finally managed to crawl to my bike and made it home. My house was empty. My father died a few years ago in a car accident, and my mother worked all the time. I had no other siblings. That means no cute sisters or loyal brothers. Well, that was probably for the best. I was overweight and unpopular. I would probably just be an embarrassment to any sibling who knew me.

I headed over to the bathroom and pulled out a first-aid kit. One thing I had always been good at was taking care of myself. First aid, sewing, cooking, cleaning… I was responsible for all those duties. I carefully cleaned up my wounds and tended them. I swear my wounds healed faster when I was the one tending them. Ah, well, I finished quickly and leaned back, taking a small break.

“I want a girlfriend.”

Even after my bad experience, I still really wanted to be in a relationship with someone. I just wanted a girl to come home to. I was okay with even being an at-home husband. I could take care of the kids and clean the house. That would really be the life. Was it too much to ask for? I sighed as my stomach grumbled. There would be no food unless I got up to make something.

Heating some water, I cooked up some instant ramen and ate it. I wasn’t fat because I ate too much. Instead, it was the quality of food. My mom and I didn’t have a lot of money, so naturally, I ate mostly cheap junk. It was rare when I could have a decent meal, and my mother never cooked. She was always way too tired to do anything, so I ended up being the cook in the house. If I had access to decent ingredients, I might have even been a decent cook.

After eating supper, I headed to my room and sat down in front of my small 22-inch TV. Picking up a bag of games I had picked up from the used media store, I started glancing through them. I was always thrifty, so the games I selected were from the discount bin. My games were always last-gen and clearance. That meant I got a lot of stinkers, but they passed my time. Occasionally, I found a hidden gem, and that was what I loved the most. I liked hunting for hidden treasures. The gains usually outdid the losses.

“What is this one?”

I noticed a game that I didn’t remember picking up at all. It had no labels on the outside at all. I glanced at the back, and there were absolutely no words on the case whatsoever. Out of curiosity, I pulled off the wrapping and opened the case. There was a game cartridge and written on it were just two words in a simple font.

It was called Dungeon Life. I noticed an insert in the case and pulled it out. Like the game, it contained no art and was just a paragraph of words.

Are you tired of your world? Do you want Adventure? Money? Food? Women? Join the Dungeon Life, where you make money hunting monsters, obtaining rare drop items, and earning treasures. Form a party of various classes to help you work your way down each dungeon and eventually defeat the dungeon boss. Each dungeon you conquer earns you wealth, fame, and dungeon points. Let the adventure begin.

“Dungeon Life…” I repeated, and then shrugged, sticking the game into my Nintendo. “Well, it doesn’t hurt to try it out.”

The screen finally came on, and I immediately had to shake my head. Seriously… no graphics! This might as well be an Atari game. It was a completely black screen with white text on it that said Dungeon Life followed by the words, ‘Start your New Life!’

I clicked the start button. Was this game more like Second Life? It might be one of those Java Mudd games that were popular a decade ago. I wasn’t above playing a text-based RPG, especially if the story was pretty good.

“Pick your class.” I read what was on the screen. “Your class is not your job. The class will dictate the type of skills you’ll gain to navigate the Dungeon Life. Choose wisely, as your play style will vary greatly based on your class.”

The classes were not what I expected at all. Rather than traditional RPG things like mage and warrior, they were far broader. The first class was Weapon Offense. The second was Shield Defense. The Third was Stealth. Then there was Long-Distance. Hand to Hand. Magical Attack. Magical Defense. My eyes went down the list until it fell on one that caught my eye.

Support. That was all that was written. Well, none of them had any descriptions of what they did. This appeared to be a game worse than I expected. It wasn’t very intuitive at all. However, I always played as a supporting character. I didn’t like my character to be the high hitter. Instead, I’d often play as a monster tamer or a necromancer and summon legions to fight for me. Then, I would sit back while they gave their lives, using little spells to help amplify and keep them going. I didn’t see anything like a necromancer, a druid, or a monster tamer… so Support seemed to be the closest I could come up with.

I selected the Support, and then another screen popped up. It asked me to choose a job.

“Ah, this is it.” I nodded in affirmation.

This list gave the more familiar things I was used to. There was a herbalist, a White Mage, a monster tamer, a support mage, and many more. On top of the screen was some text.

Your job can be whatever you want it to be. With the appropriate class, you can switch between the jobs at will. However, other than your starting job, all other jobs must be unlocked. You must discover how to unlock your jobs on your own.

I frowned at the somewhat confusing instructions. So... basically, I could have any job I wanted as long as I unlocked it? That seemed really overpowered to me. In the end, I decided to go for the White Mage. It wasn’t that I wasn’t tempted by the monster tamer, but I’d be able to pick that ability up later on. In the beginning, I found the thing that aggravated me most in games, and that was the inability to heal. Potions were usually really expensive, so a simple healing spell went a long way.

Of course, I wouldn’t have very much in the way of attack, it was probably fine. White Mages were usually given a pass in earlier gameplay. Once I switched to something like a monster tamer, in conjunction with White Mage skills, I figured I’d be pretty powerful. Thus, I selected the White Mage job. I had my doubt about the game’s quality, but I was a bit excited to try it. If it sucked, I’d just play something else anyway.

Are you sure you’d like to go to another world?

{Name: Deek

Class: Support

Job: White Mage Level: 1}

“Yes,” I said out loud as I clicked my tongue, “Let’s get on with this.”

{You have unlocked the White Mage skill: Weak Heal.}

“Wait… what?” Those words didn’t flash on the TV, but they flashed in the middle of my vision.

A moment later, I was surrounded by a white light as the world around me vanished.