And that's where the journal abruptly ends.

  The second episode continues for a few more minutes, cutting to a dimly lit room. A group of figures are huddled together, hatching a plan.

  Surprisingly, besides the Life Alchemy Society, there are also cultists from the Curse Cult, draped in their signature black robes.

  As the camera focuses on them, players learn that the alchemical bomb plot is a joint effort between the Curse Cult and the Life Alchemy Society.

  To ensure the plan goes off without a hitch, a council member from the Life Alchemy Society is being dispatched from the Kingdom of Ruins to oversee the operation.

  This whole alchemical bomb business is new. It never happened in Julian's past life. Clearly, his presence has already started to significantly alter the course of events.

  And just as they're about to reveal the identity of the council member and delve into the specifics of their plan, the second episode comes to an end.

  That's it? Just like that?

  Julian was fuming. Seriously? Even the AI has learned how to cliffhanger now?

  Would it kill them to give him a little more intel? Seriously!

  But, you know, after watching this episode, even he's starting to believe that he might actually be the protagonist.

  Think about it. The major events in the game so far: the Curse Cult's sacrificial ritual, the Alchemist Phantom incident, and now the impending alchemical bomb plot. If you look closely, there's one common thread weaving through all of them: him.

  It seems like he's already drastically changed the game's early-stage storyline.

  Not that he had much of a choice. What else can he do at this point but take it one step at a time?

  Shaking his head, Julian starts browsing the forums.

  This game is actually showing potential to blow up. In just a few days, the number of registered forum users has surged to twenty million. And this is before the Beta Testing even starts!

  It's giving off some serious Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077 vibes—hyped to the moon before even launching.

  Most of the forum posts are about him, seeing as he's the only guy who's been front and center in both trailers.

  Julian scans through the posts, but most of them are fluff. Finally, he stumbles upon a half-decent analysis post: "A Beginner's Guide to Apocalypse in 5 Minutes (Part 1) - A Look at Class Choices."

  The author, going by the handle "XB," is a guy, and someone Julian knows well.

  Besides Apocalypse, there's another extremely popular MOBA game on Blue Star. XB used to be a pro player in that very game.

  During a crucial team fight in a major tournament, XB was playing a control-heavy hero. The team captain ordered him to initiate on the easiest target. XB's team executed flawlessly, perfectly CCing the easiest target—a ranged minion.

  They lost the match, and XB got roasted into oblivion by the fans. After that, he retired from the pro scene and dived into Apocalypse. In Julian's past life, they even teamed up in the arena for a while.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  The guy might be slow on the uptake and a walking meme, but he's actually pretty knowledgeable about gaming.

  It's kind of surreal, reading a post from someone he knew in his past life, but from the perspective of an NPC.

  Julian clicks on the post without hesitation.

  XB: "Hey everyone, it's your old buddy XB! Great to see you all in Apocalypse. Starting today, I'm hanging up my pro player hat and joining you all in this new adventure. I'm sure you've all seen the second episode of the trailer series. My boy is still going strong, taking down that invisible superhuman freak. Throughout the episode, he really showcases the power of the Ranger class."

  Julian: ...

  Dude, are you okay? You're freaking me out.

  He keeps reading.

  XB: "Anyway, let's cut to the chase. I'm going to break down the pros and cons of each class in Apocalypse based on the information we have so far."

  He's uploaded a video to the post, meticulously analyzing the class strengths frame by frame.

  Video.mp4

  Even Julian, who was actually there, almost gets swayed by XB's analysis after watching the video.

  XB: "In the first episode, we saw at least three classes: Wayne Stilwell's Ranger, Cultists A, B, and C's Warrior class, and Cultist D's ranged spellcasting class, likely a Mage. Did you guys notice that at the seventeenth-minute mark, Cultists A, B, and C each try to charge and stun Wayne? They raise their hands, but the charge range seems to be within 25 yards. You can see in the video that Wayne keeps them at that distance, completely neutralizing the two Warriors. Also, note that Wayne's target priority is the monster first, then the Mage, and lastly the Warriors. This shows that he considers the Warriors the least threatening, which proves to be true. So, in my opinion, the Warrior class lacks mobility and is too clunky. They can't deal damage, they can't chase, they're basically useless. Unless you're dead set on playing a Warrior, I wouldn't recommend it for newbies."

  XB: "As for Mages, they seem to have decent damage output. From what we've seen, they can dish out ranged damage and have some crowd control. The only issue is the casting time, which makes their viability in PvP questionable."

  XB: "The second episode also features three classes: Wayne's Ranger, Sherlock's Weather Mage, and the monster Horvath Guy's Superhuman class. From the video, it looks like Weather Mage is a support-oriented class, combining support and damage-dealing capabilities. I highly recommend it for the ladies. As for the Superhuman class, we don't have much info on it yet, but judging from the introduction, it should be pretty strong in combat. Overall, Wayne's Ranger seems to be the hero class of the early game. High damage, high mobility, and most importantly, huge potential for growth. The protagonist's class, the devs' pet project—how could it possibly be weak? XB's advice: don't fight the meta. Pick the strong classes. But don't worry if you want to try other classes. Every patch brings a new OP, so who knows what the future holds?"

  Damn, that's a compelling argument!

  Julian is genuinely impressed.

  That's XB for you.

  His analysis isn't just wrong; it's spectacularly wrong.

  The Warrior class, which he totally trashed, is actually the strongest class in the early game. After all, it's the class of Leandros, the protagonist of Julian's past life. Even XB himself was swinging a big sword around back then.

  Meanwhile, the Ranger class he's hyping up doesn't even exist yet. It's barely a concept.

  He should rename this post "A Beginner's Guide to Getting Rekt in Apocalypse in 5 Minutes."

  What's hilarious is that a significant number of players actually agree with this nonsense. The forum admins even pinned the post!

  Julian: ...

  Is this game doomed already?

  But XB's post does remind Julian that he needs to create his own new class system ASAP. With the current hype, if he can come up with a complete class system, he'll be raking in the benefits.

  According to the game's standards, a complete class system needs at least 6 class specialties, 2 core buff skills, and more than 10 active skills.

  His Ripple Breathing Technique, Precision Mechanical Mastery, Mysticism, and Marksmanship can roughly be considered class specialties. And the passive combat boost from Hot Pursuit can count as a core buff skill.

  What he's really lacking are active skills.

  Looking at it this way, he's not that far from his goal.

  Closing the control panel, Julian washes up and heads to the Alchemy Building for his daily routine.

  Overnight, the atmosphere at Vickers University has completely changed.

  Early this morning, after Sherlock left, a squad of police arrived to remove Horvath Guy's body and announced that the Alchemist Phantom case was closed.

  Since it involved Supernatural Power, the students were pretty excited, still buzzing about it. The ex-boyfriend of Maggie, one of the key figures in the incident, nearly pissed himself and thanked Horvath for not killing him. The faculty, on the other hand, were relieved.

  A Supernatural Creature hiding among the students had been found. That's good news. Although a few people had died, at least further casualties were prevented.