Exceed

1 - The Beginning

I could only stand there in silence—frozen, contemplative—as the blank sky above us slowly folded itself into the shape of a city I knew by heart.

The first city of Exceed.

Yet everything we saw remained locked behind a thick, semi-transparent wall, shimmering like glass forged from moonlight.

A barrier, unyielding and absolute.

I didn’t need to ask.

I already knew what it meant.

“This is the tutorial world… the beginning of Exceed.” I murmured, a faint smile tugging at my lips.

Around me, people continued to shout in confusion, their voices overlapping like a broken choir.

Of course they panicked—who wouldn’t?

One moment they were going about their lives, and the next, they were thrown into a space devoid of context, surrounded by strangers whose intentions were as unknown as this white, endless void.

Panic was natural. Predictable.

“Huff… thank god for Exceed’s original soundtrack,” I exhaled, letting the familiar melody straighten my thoughts.

ZIINGGG!!!

A brilliant flash cut through the air.

[WELCOME TO EXCEED, PLAYER]

A floating panel—like a computer window made of cold light—blinked before us.

[This is a world separate from Earth. A world named EXCEED.

We are currently adjusting the connection between the two worlds, merging them gradually.]

[The worlds will remain apart for now. Each month, their connection will increase by five percent.]

[What should you all do is simple: explore EXCEED and complete its story to delay and prevent the collapse of both worlds. The storyline will not differ much from the original game.]

[A “GUIDEBOOK” has been delivered to your inventory. Do your best.]

[LET US TURN THIS INTO A TRUE GOD-TIER GAME]

“…”

Silence devoured the room.

None of us understood the full weight of what we’d just read—talk of merging worlds and impending destruction felt distant, surreal. A story too large to hold all at once.

But I knew one thing:

there was something far more urgent directly in front of us.

My knees weakened for a moment. I wasn’t the only one—people around me grew pale, trembling as the suffocating quiet pressed down on us.

A small laugh escaped me.

“Hah… so this is what it means for a game to become godlike,” I whispered as my legs finally gave in, lowering me to the floor.

No one followed my laughter—maybe they didn’t hear it. Maybe they simply didn’t have the strength to accept the truth yet.

“What is this?!”

“This makes no sense!”

“God-tier game? Send us back! Send us back now!”

“My wife and child—where are they?!”

“Ria! Ria, where are you?!”

Voices collided and spiraled like a storm.

Some screamed, some sobbed, some ran aimlessly, searching for exits that didn’t exist. They resembled an army of ants who had lost their queen—scattered, desperate, directionless.

The room thickened with panic, every breath heavier than the last.

At this rate, we would destroy ourselves long before the world ever could.

CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP!!!

Clapping.

Sharp, deliberate, echoing.

It sliced through the chaos cleanly, and heads turned toward the man who made the sound—a middle-aged figure with an upright posture, dressed too neatly for this place.

A blond man whose very presence demanded attention.

When the room quieted, he finally spoke.

“I don’t intend to interrupt your panic,” he began softly, though his voice carried authority, “but what we need now is calm. Only then can we analyze what’s happening.”

“I know!! But—”

“I’m not finished. Don’t interrupt me!!”

A teenager tried to speak, but the man cut him off with a single sharp glance.

“I’ll begin the discussion,” he continued. “The screen says we’re inside the game ‘Exceed.’ Judging from the interface, I’m convinced this is truly Exceed. So—does anyone here know this game?”

“I-I’ve played Exceed! I know what to do!” cried a bespectacled young man.

“If you know it, so do I,” another added.

“Me too. I’m pretty good at it, actually.”

Soon a cluster of players were sharing their experiences—what to do first, which menus to open, how the early game worked.

It was the correct move.

Their words soothed the air, restoring a fragile order.

I readied myself to join them when needed.

“Well then,” the blond man lifted his hand, drawing everyone’s attention again. “It seems many of us have experience.”

Yes… these were the types who would become Guild Masters someday.

“My name is Mevis,” he introduced himself. “I’ve played Exceed for a long time. I won’t act superior—we all have varied experiences. But since some may not know the basics, let us begin with—”

He guided the crowd through Exceed’s essential systems: the status window, mail, inventory, information tabs, and so on.

I followed quietly, pretending to be clueless—an ordinary, confused newcomer observing from the back.

A few players laughed mockingly at me, tapping confidently on their screens.

Moments later, a dark portal materialized before them—the first step to the true beginning.

Veteran players.

Impatient, efficient.

They moved instinctively, just as they had when creating new accounts.

It wasn’t a bad choice.

For a normal player, it was optimal.

But I was not a normal player.

I knew this game down to its deepest bones—every hidden mechanic, every bug, every buried Easter egg known only to the top few.

I knew the secret quests, the hidden areas, the rituals for unlocking high-tier artifacts.

Only then did I remember who I truly was.

One of the elite.

A top-rank player of Exceed.

The world that once existed inside my screen now stretched before me, real and tangible.

“Right,” I whispered, a slow smile forming. “I’ve done this countless times.”

This was nothing more than a reroll.

A fresh start.

A familiar climb to the summit.

In the real world, I was weak—just a nameless man hunched over a laptop, repeating the same game day after day.

But now that game had become reality.

And here… nothing could stop me.

I rose to my feet, breath steady, heart alight.

“Good,” I said softly.

“Let’s become the top player of this world.”