Chapter 2: Backstage of the Performance

When Hiro opened his eyes again, he found himself in a completely dark space.

According to the information he had learned, this was the 'backstage preparation space' before the formal performance began.

It was basically a space for the invited actors to gather and discuss the rough outline of the plot.

So, Hiro looked around this space and quickly found the other five 'actors' who had been invited like himself.

They were all wearing different colored masks, and their costumes had a futuristic style.

Hiro was also wearing a mask without any features.

This was a protective measure for the "Performance" stage.

Most low-level deities were no different from ordinary people in reality.

And the identity of the deities must be kept secret from ordinary people. If it was revealed in any way, they would face severe punishment.

So, in the "Performance" backstage, the actors would all hide their true identities in reality.

Most of them did this for safety and self-protection, after all, if the disputes in the "Performance" continued to extend into reality, it would be troublesome.

As Hiro was looking at the other five people who were participating in the performance with him, the other five were also looking at Hiro.

A man wearing a black wolf mask with a commanding voice stared at Hiro for a moment, then frowned and asked coldly, "Newcomer?"

Hiro did not answer, because the identity of a newcomer was not well received on the "Performance" stage.

After all, the performance was a competition, but each actor still needed a certain degree of cooperation to perform a play well and satisfy the client players who came.

Someone like Hiro, who had no performance experience, was most likely to ruin the atmosphere of the entire play.

In short, it was very easy to let the visiting player audience break the immersion or cause other distractions.

When the five "veteran" actors learned that Hiro was a newcomer, at least four of them showed expressions of disdain.

"Don't you know that a newcomer should report to the seniors? Forget it! I warn you, don't cause any trouble for us in the upcoming performance! Just stay in a corner and behave yourself!"

"If you mess up the plot we've arranged, don't blame us for kicking you out first! That is, being the first one to be eliminated in each round of the performance, got it?"

The man wearing the black wolf mask warned Hiro coldly.

Of course, Hiro did not respond to his threat.

Because, unlike the other five actors, they were all participating in this performance to please the visiting female players and let them experience a romantic love story.

So these five people wanted to avoid conflicts with other actors as much as possible.

But Hiro was different. From the moment he joined this "Performance," his goal was to kill everyone!

They were performing a romantic love drama, but Hiro was playing a dark and brutal love story filled with death.

So from the beginning, Hiro had no intention of getting along with this group.

After all, in the end, they would all become "scumbags" who would kill each other for their beloved heroine.

So I'll just put all my points into combat power

Hiro was adjusting the attribute panel of the role he was about to play.

This role panel was a common character setting panel in otome romance games.

There were three basic attributes: combat power, charm, and family background. Each attribute had a maximum of ten points, and each actor had ten points to freely allocate.

Hiro's base charm value was already eight.

After all, in reality, Hiro was also a very handsome man.

As for combat power, it was zero.

Here, Hiro allocated all his free points into combat power.

In the end, the basic attributes of the role played by Hiro were:

combat power: 10

charm: 8

family background: 1.

After adding some vague background settings to this character, a mirror appeared in front of Hiro after a prompt reading <Character construction in progress...>

In the mirror, his character had become a boy about 1.5 meters tall, wearing a tattered cloak, and looking a bit dirty.

This was the character that Hiro was about to play,his name is Shinoa, a little book boy who managed books in the library of a magic academy.

Although he looked a bit dirty, Hiro's facial features were all preserved, with black hair and purple eyes, and even the extremely charming teardrop-shaped mole that could arouse any woman's maternal instinct.

At the same time, his appearance was about 70%-80% similar to his real self.

"So, all that's left is to act pitiful in the library and hook the girl players"

Hiro straightened his somewhat messy hair and then heard laughter next to his ear.

"That's why newcomers are brainless! This stage is mainly about romancing princes and nobles in an otome game! And you didn't even allocate a single point to the family background attribute! That's hilarious!"

Hiro looked in the direction of the laughter and found that the actors who had been wearing masks earlier had now become characters with extremely magnificent and wealthy appearances.

From their family backgrounds, they really seemed to be princes or generals of certain countries, which was much better than Hiro's orphan book boy who could only call the library his home.

In response to their laughter, Hiro could only say: You guys really don't understand how to hook rich women, do you?

Of course, Hiro was well-versed in how to please rich women.

Just like now, Hiro had already noticed that among the other five actors, there was actually a female actor.

The woman wearing the fox mask had been standing in the same place with her arms crossed since earlier and showed no intention of creating a character.

Hiro seemed to realize something and walked straight up to the fox lady.

"Senior, you don't seem to want to participate in this performance, do you?"

Hiro didn't beat around the bush and asked a crucial question when he approached the fox lady.

The fox lady glanced at Hiro from under her mask and then replied indifferently, "So what if I do? It shouldn't have anything to do with you, right?"

Hiro's current appearance was indeed very attractive to older women.

But this was just one of Hiro's outer layers. Who knows if the real appearance under Hiro's layer was an unkempt middle-aged man?

However, based on the fox lady's response, Hiro could be sure that she was a rich woman in the real world.

The reason was that this fox lady didn't look down upon this E-level "Performance."

There were two ways to participate in a "Performance": forced recruitment and voluntary participation.

The latter, voluntary participation, required deity candidates to have some connections in the real world.

Forced recruitment was when the system sent an invitation to the participants after the conditions were met, and the participants had to devote their energy to the performance in the following month or even several months.

All six participants present were forced to participate, including this fox lady.

But unlike the other participants...

The rewards for this E-level performance were not of interest to the fox lady, and she even felt that being forced to work every day to make the players laugh disturbed her purity!

If that was the case...

"Senior, if you really don't want to participate, why not choose a person setting that the players will hate from the beginning?"

Hiro suggested to the fox lady with a smiling expression.