[Isn’t this a gacha game reincarnation story where the world is supposed to end?]
This was the novel Luke had read before he reincarnated… or rather, one could call it the original story, the blueprint of this world.
The genre was romantic fantasy.
The type often referred to as “lofan,” but you know how it sometimes happens when you delve deeply into reading one particular genre, and certain stories tend to surface?
Among the flood of mass-produced novels with similar developments, there were those trying to break the genre’s limits, shattering every cliche to create something new.
This novel was one of such works.
The story began with a woman named Yujia reincarnating into Sylvia, the main character of a gacha game.
When you think of romantic fantasies, you typically picture the sweet romance between the leading man and woman. However, this novel leaned more into the realm of dark fantasy, with a world on the verge of destruction being saved by the protagonist at every turn.
In summary, Sylvia was a reincarnated person who fell into the game world, and Luke was another reincarnated soul who had read the story about Sylvia.
Thus, while Luke knew about Sylvia, she had no idea of his existence.
And now…
Faced with immense confusion, Sylvia was completely at a loss for words.
“An existence that cannot be observed?” It was absurd.
No, it was so outrageous that she involuntarily burst into laughter.
Under normal circumstances, she might have simply ignored it as nonsense, but what made this different was that the entity speaking was none other than the System itself.
“Error? No, it can’t be…”
Sylvia, as a reincarnated person, knew all too well that the translucent system window floating in front of her eyes never lied.
That was why it was even stranger.
None of the people she had met so far had ever triggered this kind of warning from the system.
An existence beyond system analysis, and one linked with so many powerful factions.
Of course, she was aware that a Lord of this level could rival an entire nation with their personal strength, but even then, this didn’t make sense. Not even the Grand Lord, who represented the council of Lords, was like this.
Sylvia mulled over the situation with an expression of bewilderment.
“Could it be… the Final Boss?”
The Final Boss. Nothing else made sense.
During her gaming days before reincarnating, Sylvia had never even heard of a character named Luke Richter, let alone the Six Lords. That’s why when she learned about the Six Lords, she was astonished. And she attended the Title Award Ceremony for the same reason.
Since no expansion pack had been released up to her reincarnation point, the only conclusion she could reach was that Luke was somehow behind an upcoming one.
Sylvia took a deep breath, calming herself to analyze the situation.
A survival chance under 0.001% was basically a warning not to even dream of opposing him.
Even when she had incidentally met the Grand Lord before, her survival chances had been 5%. In comparison, this was an unbelievably abnormal figure.
At that moment, the system window started humming as if issuing a warning.
[Caution: ‘Six Lord, Luke Richter’ is observing you!]
“Why me?”
Sylvia felt cold sweat trickling down her forehead. Tension made her mind go blank. She was so scared she felt tears welling up. If it came to blows, there was no way she could win.
[Caution: Continuous tracking detected within a 100m radius.]
“Please, just leave me alone…”
Though she tried to appear calm, Luke Richter continued to follow her at a steady pace, quietly and stealthily, as if he had some business with her.
There was only one plausible explanation.
“Could it have something to do with the Star Sect?”
Upon reflection, although the reason was unclear, the relationship between the Six Lord and the Star Sect was abysmally strained, almost to the point of being arch-enemies. Yet, Sylvia was currently following the most orthodox route, the Star Sect route, among many possible options. She had chosen it simply because it was the least difficult, but now it seemed like that choice was coming back to haunt her.
[Your level of interest has reached a dangerous threshold.]
[Caution: You are under thorough analysis.]
“Damn it…”
Could it get any worse? If the story continued like this, the system’s warning was right – a collision with Luke Richter was inevitable. She would have to choose between Luke Richter and the Star Sect. Given the situation, Sylvia had really only one option.
“Looks like I have to abandon the Star Sect route.”
Even though other routes existed outside of the Star Sect, it was far too late to switch now. In a game, restarting an episode would suffice, but this was no game, it was reality. Given the current twists and timing, her only way forward was to carve out an entirely new route for herself. Which left her with no choice but to explore the Six Lord route.
The problem was that all Sylvia knew about the Six Lord so far was that he was an extremely dangerous final boss-level villain.
Just as she finished this train of thought…
“Lady Sylvia?”
A familiar voice called her from somewhere.
Turning to the source of the voice, she saw a woman waving at her enthusiastically. Behind her stood about a dozen men, all clad in the iconic snow-white robes of the Star Sect.
She recognized them.
Of course. They were the fake saint and her group, people she’d befriended while on the Star Sect route.
“Hold on, could it be…?”
She swiftly glanced behind herself. Luke Richter was standing still, alternating gazes between her and the group. Despite his handsome features, his eyes, shimmering with darkness, were terrifying.
[‘Six Lord, Luke Richter’ has shown strong curiosity about your relationship with the Star Sect.]
[Your every action is now under surveillance.]
[Caution: Avoid contact with the Star Sect!]
“Please, stop this…”
Sylvia wanted to cry.
*
Meanwhile…
“Is this real?”
I treaded lightly, following Sylvia from behind.
There wasn’t much of a reason, really.
I just found it fascinating to finally meet the protagonist of the original story.
Back in grad school, while being overworked, I had memorized the entire content of the setting collection for this particular novel, one of my few favorites. Claiming I didn’t have an attachment to it would be a lie.
Encountering the protagonist in person after knowing her only through texts for so long was genuinely refreshing and interesting. Unconsciously following her like this, someone greeted Sylvia.
I recognized them vaguely. They were all members of the Star Sect.
“Thinking back, she did choose the Star Sect route early on, didn’t she?”
I, for reasons beyond my control, ended up at odds with the Star Sect. But from Sylvia’s perspective, it was understandably a good choice. According to the novel, no other route had as low an entry difficulty as the Star Sect.
“Lady Sylvia! What brings you here?”
The woman who had greeted Sylvia chuckled and approached her with light, cheerful steps.
“Sylvia, you should’ve given me a heads up! I would’ve sent a carriage right away.”
Clearly, they were pretty close. Honestly, it didn’t bother me. Though my relationship with the Star Sect wasn’t great, I had no intention of crossing swords with the protagonist of the original story.
I was watching them casually, but something seemed off.
“Lady Sylvia?”
“…”
“Sylvia, are you alright? You look so troubled. Is something wrong?”
“…”
Sylvia didn’t speak a word.
Her eyes remained tightly closed as if refusing to participate in the conversation altogether. The woman trying to converse with her seemed flustered and kept addressing her repeatedly.
“Sylvia, say something!”
“…”
“Is something wrong? Did you possibly meet that despicable man, Luke Richter?”
“…”
That’s when…
“When did I ever?”
Finally, Sylvia spoke, but her expression and tone were far from usual, indicating something was amiss.
“…Lady Sylvia?”
“What?”
“Why so hostile? It’s me, Claire.”
“Who are you?”
The woman blinked in shock at Sylvia’s words. Sylvia then turned her back abruptly. When Claire attempted to hold her back, Sylvia brushed her hand away aggressively.
“Don’t touch me where you shouldn’t.”
“S-Sylvia…?”
“Don’t pretend to know me.”
“Sylvia? Sylvia! How could you behave this way without any reason! Sylvia…”
Wait, wasn’t she supposed to be on the Star Sect route?
