My Favorite Game Followed Me!

Chapter 857

What Anton liked about his multiplayer sessions with his father and sister was that the moment they started playing their characters—whether leveling up or hunting for items—the three of them would leave their real identities behind and act like ordinary gamers. They would shout at each other as normal gamers did and loudly blame one another for mistakes.The only difference was that Anders wouldn't tolerate any cursing, so their shouting matches were completely devoid of it. Both Anna and Anton thought that was a little hypocritical of their father since they had heard him talking with his men, and Anders's mouth was easily the dirtiest among them. Still, it was understandable. They were his children, not his subordinates, and even if Anton was already considered an adult, Anna definitely wasn't.

The screaming matches felt nice to Anton and, more than likely, to his father and sister as well. It was cathartic and helped them release the stress they accumulated in their daily lives. The shouting and screaming were all about the game anyway, and none of it was personal.

Anders told his children that he had begun consolidating his power and was starting to plan for becoming a leader—perhaps even a king someday—with Oakswood as the center of his future domain. Since only five days had passed since their last conversation, everything was still in its early stages.

Afterward, they spent the day hunting for gear. They focused on it more than leveling because reaching level ninety-nine wasn't going to increase their power nearly as much as obtaining the best equipment.

Anton did remind them that continuing to level up was still important because some of the most powerful items had extremely high level requirements.

"Why don't the items you give us in the real world have level requirements like the ones inside the hidden world?" Anna asked.

Anton simply told her that removing level requirements was one of the perks granted by his bloodline magic.

"You didn't actually create those runeword items you gave us, did you?" Anders asked.

His father and sister already knew so much about Anton's Diablo System that they could practically deduce many of the things he was doing. He admitted that his so-called bloodline magic was connected to a different dimension and hosted players from that world. That meant he had already been able to use the multiplayer option with people from that dimension long before opening it to his family. The main difference was that the strength gained by characters in those multiplayer sessions did not carry over to the players in that world.

As a result, it wasn't difficult for Anders and Anna to realize that the Diablo System itself also originated from the same dimension where the movie had come from. In that world, however, it was merely a game rather than the genuine magical system Anton possessed. That fact alone left both Anders and Anna astonished.

They immediately began asking countless questions about the Diablo System, but Anton admitted that he simply didn't know much more. He was a beneficiary of the system, not its creator. Over the years, his theories regarding its origins had become so outrageous that he eventually stopped pursuing the truth. He would only resume that pursuit once he became a truly knowledgeable wizard.

Anton then explained that a ladder season occurred every year, functioning as a special competition. During a ladder season, newly created characters could increase his strength. Every time he reached the maximum level with a new ladder character, twenty percent of that character's stats would be transferred to his real body.

Not only that, but each time he maxed out a ladder character, the Diablo System allowed him to transfer any one item he wanted from the game into the real world, provided the item had been acquired during the ladder season's multiplayer sessions. That was where the powerful items he had given them originally came from.

While they continued hunting for gear, Anton finally revealed to his father and sister that his magic wasn't actually called bloodline magic. Its true name was the Diablo System.

He told them that from the moment he awakened in this world, he had possessed access to the world of Diablo. He could create characters, and the strength, skills, and item power of those characters would be reflected in his real body.

At the very least, Anders and Anna had already spent enough time playing in the multiplayer mode of the Diablo System to understand his explanation.

He also told them that the minor health potions, minor mana potions, and town portal scrolls all came from the Diablo System. It allowed him to transfer consumable items once per day. So far, he could choose from only four items: the two potions and the two scrolls—the Town Portal Scroll and the Identify Scroll.

"I haven't seen an Identify Scroll before. Have you ever transferred one?" Anna asked.

"No. There's really no need to. If I want to identify something, I just store it in my inventory and identify it inside the game using a scroll. It's a way to save my once-per-day consumable transfer quota. We need those quotas for Town Portal Scrolls since we promised Ormunda that we'd provide twenty of them every month for at least another year."

The remaining ten portal scrolls that Anton could transfer each month were reserved for his father and sister to use whenever necessary. Thankfully, portals created by the scrolls remained active for three weeks. Otherwise, thirty scrolls per month wouldn't have been nearly enough.

As a matter of fact, Ormunda kept pushing for more scrolls, but Anton simply told them that he couldn't produce more than twenty each month.

"Can we join that ladder season?" Anders asked.

"No. That option isn't available to you yet," Anton replied.

"Yet?" Anna asked.

"My Diablo System occasionally updates itself and gives me new abilities, such as granting classes to other people and allowing others to enter the multiplayer option. More than likely, the ability to let you participate in ladder seasons will eventually be added as well."

Anton knew that statement excited both his father and sister. Being able to participate in a ladder season would not only increase their power but also allow them to communicate with other Diablo II gamers. It was amusing to imagine talking to people who believed they were simply playing a game while the three of them were gaining real power from it.

"How many ladder seasons have you experienced so far?" Anders asked.

"Three."

"That means you can bestow a class on a third person now. Have you ever tried granting one to someone from that dimension where the movies and games came from?" his father asked.

The question completely caught Anton off guard, causing him to pause their hunt for a moment.

"It never occurred to me to do something like that. I haven't made any close friends during any of the three ladder seasons. Besides, there are no monsters in that world. The only enemies they have are each other, and things could become pretty chaotic if an ordinary person suddenly gained the ability to unleash a barrage of Fireballs," Anton said thoughtfully.

"How wonderful their world is. With all their technology, the only danger comes from other people," Anders remarked.

"I don't think I'd like living there. I'd probably get bored," Anna said.

Anton agreed with his sister. The anime, manga, games, and other hobbies he loved simply couldn't compare to the feeling of magic coursing through his veins while casting spells. The satisfaction of watching enormous, terrifying monsters fall before his magic was also something he wouldn't trade for all the money on Earth.