I’ve Reincarnated into an Elf - Ch 0

Prologue 

As I watched the ending credits roll by on the prologue screen, I pulled off my headphones and slumped back in my chair, letting my body sink into it.

I had seen this scene so many times it was starting to get annoying, but at this moment, I still couldn’t get enough of it.

It’s almost been five years since this game was released.

Tomorrow marks the five-year anniversary, which means I’ve been playing it for nearly that long.

I’ve watched the ending a total of five times, so that’s about once a year.

‘Wow, when will I see all the endings?’ I thought.

Feeling a mix of excitement about how much story is still left and a bit of emptiness at the overwhelming amount of content in this game The excitement of knowing there’s still more left.

It’s incredible.

After five years of playing, the only thing I can say is how amazing it is.

The freedom feels almost infinite, the AI feels like real people, and the vast world and endless storytelling are mind-blowing.

Each playthrough changes dramatically based on what race you start with.

This game has truly captured players around the world.

Even if you play the same character the same way, the influence of the AI eventually flips the story in unexpected directions.

It’s pure madness.

It’s truly a game that’s addictive in the best and worst ways.

“Wow, seriously, I can’t stop playing this game.” Once the credits finished, I found myself not shutting the game down but instead clicking on the new character creation screen.

I originally thought about playing as a werewolf, but it seemed too similar to the barbarian I just played, so I decided to start with an elf as a warm-up.

I hadn’t chosen a starting location yet, so I skipped.

This game has a unique feature where you have to start playing from childhood.

Based on your childhood experiences, you get to choose a job when you hit adulthood.

Before that point, you don’t get any help from the system, including the status screen, and it only opens up after the coming-of-age ceremony.

If you don’t play properly during childhood, you might end up with some wacky job choices when it’s time to pick one.

For example, if you just farm in the countryside, you might end up as a full-on farmer character.

Because of this system, I once had a painful experience playing as a human.

I started as a village hero and wasted two weeks grinding away, only to give up and eventually restart as a knight in the empire.

I think I “committed suicide” in-game about four times out of frustration.

No matter how much I chopped wood to build strength or farmed to boost my stamina, it didn’t help.

The only skills I developed were lumberjacking and farming.

I tried to train my sword skills by getting a sword, but there were no proper teachers, so my sword skills barely improved.

To really get better at sword fighting, you need real combat experience, but could a little kid in their early teens even last a minute against wolves or monsters in the woods?

No matter how I set my potential abilities to the max, a kid is still just a kid.

If I don’t choose a decent starting location, I could end up with a completely useless character.

“If I was born in a human city, I might end up as a half-elf…” But in this game’s world, being a half-elf doesn’t really help.

You’d just face discrimination and mistreatment from humans, plus you’d have weaker race-specific skills compared to pure-bloods, like archery or elemental affinity.

Honestly, I wonder if a character born in a different race’s village could even survive the bullying during childhood.

No matter how hard the player tries to level up, the game’s world has a strong race-centric mentality.

This means that the overall civilization level is pretty low.

It’s like being back in ancient times, maybe around BC.

You know, like ancient Greece or the early days of Korea.

In this world, anyone who isn’t part of your race is treated like a slave or garbage.

If you’re born in a different race’s village, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll either end up as a slave or die from discrimination and harassment.

“Maybe I’ll just pick any elf forest.”

The problem is that elves are one of the races with the lowest survival rates in the main story arc about the race wars.

Their habitats are limited to forests filled with natural energy, putting them at high risk of catching fire and easily wiping out.

Even though they have some elemental powers, they can’t handle the fiery attacks from wizards.

Unless they live in a holy grove protected by the World Tree, elves living in smaller forests can literally get destroyed.

Some might end up fleeing and living as refugees or slaves, but that’s not really living, is it? Plus, even if they manage to survive, the extreme stress and depression from losing their families and clan during the war mean their characters won’t last long.

Since I’ve set my potential abilities to max, I might as well get strong quickly and prepare for the war.

There’s a chance I could survive, but war is war.

Individual power has its limits.

Plus, this game has no difficulty settings; everything is based on realism.

If you get hurt, you need to take time to heal or use magic.

And as I mentioned, if you die once, your character gets deleted.

That’s why setting potential abilities is crucial, but if you don’t go through childhood properly, you might die before adulthood or end up with poor stats and limited job choices.

There’s a reason it takes so long to see the true ending.

Despite its infamous reputation, it’s an addictive game: “Omega World.”

“Ah, let’s just give it a shot.” It’s my first time, so I’ll probably adapt after dying a few times. And since this is just a warm-up, if I get frustrated, I can always switch to a werewolf.

“For my birthplace… Even though it’s the World Tree’s forest, I don’t think I’d be able to escape easily.

Maybe I’ll choose a forest nearby instead.”

To survive the race wars, the easiest thing to do is just run away.

If I end up stressing out and dying for real, I’ll just quit.

Anyway, that’s it for character creation.

I got this far fueled by the momentum from seeing the ending, but now I’m in a mental fog.

I’ll have to put off playing until tomorrow.

Just as I hit the character creation complete button, a notification popped up:

“Congratulations, player! You’ve been selected for the event just before the 5th anniversary! Would you like to designate this character as an event character?”

“Oh?” A 5th anniversary event? This is the first time I’ve seen anything like this in “Omega World.”

There wasn’t any mention of an event on the official site, so it seems like a surprise event for just a few chosen players.

A secret 5th anniversary event? That’s so typical of “Omega World.”

I wonder how far they’re planning to take their infamous reputation.

Whatever the case, I started feeling excited about being part of an event for the first time while playing “Omega World.”

The fact that only a few players were chosen made it feel even more special.

Without hesitating, I clicked the accept button, and a new window popped up.

Warning: Once you create an event character, there’s no going back. Absolutely none.

Do you accept it?

My excitement immediately faded.

Why is this wording so intense?

Isn’t this supposed to be an event?

But they don’t even explain what it is.

What a way to go!

Feeling suspicious, I hit the Alt + Tab to check online.

I visited the game’s homepage and googled it, but I couldn’t find any information about a 5th anniversary event for “Omega World.”

It seemed like there were just some events organized by players or groups mimicking “Omega World.”

Is this really just a prank event for a select few?

“What’s going on? Why is this event so sketchy?”

It’s the first time I’ve ever felt uneasy about a game event.

Even though I felt that nagging discomfort, I moved the mouse without hesitation.

The cursor was heading towards the accept button.

“Ah, what the hell, nothing invested, nothing gained.”

At that point, I didn’t really think much of it.

Sure, it felt a bit off, but it’s just a game, right?

If things go sideways, I can always delete the character and start over.

I just took it as a surprise gift for a few randomly selected players since there wasn’t any official announcement from the game company.

So, even with my doubts, I accepted the event message and completed the character creation.

It was just the usual process of making a game character.

Finally, the first event character in “Omega World” was born, marking my new beginning as well.