Chapter 27: Shared Favorability

When Zhang Yun looked at the system notice in front of him, he was sparingly surprised.

He thought favorability between him and the hero soul was calculated separately in each simulation. If he went back in time, he would have to re-cultivate.

'Was the result shared? I killed Dark Knight Leon in this round. He will naturally be hostile to me in the next few ones. He will treat me as the enemy who killed his father, although he doesn't remember. Unless I can do something in line with his values and re-improve the favorability between us, then can I save this broken relationship?'

Zhang Yun considered, 'Or perhaps? This favorability only refers to the success rate of the Shadow Contract between me and the other party. It does not represent the hero soul's actual attitude toward me.'

He then thought of an example:

'I killed Dark Knight Leon this round. But he'll still have the same curious attitude of admiring me and tolerating my disobedience in the next round. But when it's time to sign a Shadow Contract, he'll reject my contract without even acknowledgment? Hmmm…'

No matter what the situation was...

'At the very least, I could now confirm that this text simulation still placed a certain restriction on my actions. I couldn't do whatever I wanted to. Otherwise… If I wanted to sabotage the fifth round and summon a Shadow Legion to destroy the world, I would become the enemy of all the hero souls. Their favorability would be reduced.'

After the simulation ended, Zhang Yun would not be able to contract a single Shadow Hero.

Furthermore...

'In the future, if I don't find a way to make up for the favorability between me and the hero soul in the text simulation, I'll fail to establish any contracts.'

One could not destroy this plane.

'This...' Zhang Yun could only say.

'Fortunately, I maintained my bottom line in the first two rounds, which allowed me to quickly increase my favorability with Fjolm and successfully contract this beautiful female knight with two long legs.'

He pondered. 

'If I had the mindset that I could restart the game at any time and ignore the suffering people that appeared in my memory. With Fjolm's personality, she definitely wouldn't have taken a fancy to me or even become a Shadow Hero whom I could order around.'

So?

"I still have to choose my side, right? Then! What if I suddenly do something evil that goes against the good and evil values of Fjolm? Since she's already contracted as a Shadow Hero, will her favorability drop rapidly, and will she initiate to terminate the Shadow Contract with me? That's a problem…"

[System Notice: Completed interfering with the plot. You and your Shadow Legion have been sent back to the real world!]

'Thump!'

It was the church bell that sounded near yet far again!

Zhang Yun's consciousness blurred again, and he unconsciously returned to his room. The hot air and the red lava that flowed on the ground had all disappeared.

But the simulation continued.

[You helped Hero Kanan defeat Dark Knight Leon. At the same time, you learned from him that the Flame Emperor would also come to kill the children of the Maple Leaf Clan and make them the core sacrifices of the sacrificial ceremony.]

[But you still didn't know the reason why Kanan was willing to go against the Flame Emperor for these children.]

[So, after your continuous questioning, Kanan told you the true identity of these 'sacrifices'. They were the descendants of Kanan's clan, and two were his sons.]

[You express your puzzlement. Why did the Flame Emperor plan to sacrifice Kanan's two biological sons and countless innocent children... Kanan only begged the Flame Emperor to let go of his people and son. He didn't want the Flame Emperor to exploit the power of the outside world. The Flame Emperor's evil act would anger both man and god. He even wanted to hide this information from you at the beginning.]

[Kanan didn't want to talk about this, but under the stimulation of the words of the Dark Knight Leon before his death, he felt that the Flame Emperor betrayed him. In the end, he still relayed what he knew.]

[The Flame Emperor was not brutal and stupid. He sacrificed so many children to activate the ancient sacrificial ceremony left behind by the Fire God only because he wanted to save the other people in the volcanic land who were about to die in the yellow springs. He wanted to use other people's lives to save the lives of his people.]

[A real sacrifice... It was the Ice Kingdom.]

[The 32 children of the Maple Leaf Clan and the children sacrificed in other volcanic lands. They were all forced to make sacrifices for the ritual.]

[Also, Kanan didn't oppose the Flame Emperor's decision. He even helped the Flame Emperor to find a child who met the conditions... However, when the sacrifice included his son and the remaining thirty-two of his kind, he chose 'kinship' against 'loyalty'. He selfishly took these children and fled the capital. Kanan was willing to sacrifice all his compatriots in the volcanic land.]

[After learning this story.]

[You choose...]

[A: Express your understanding of Kanan's actions and persuade him to join the Silver Wolf Bandits.]

[B: Spurn Kanan. Get rid of this selfish guy.]

[C: Since you are worried that Kanan will betray you, give up on him and seek other allies.]

[Special: Personally interfere (Prohibited/ Your current energy is not enough to interfere twice).]

"This? This is a little troublesome!"

The one Zhang Yun wanted to choose the most was Option A. It was to turn Hero Kanan into his ally and help Fjolm fight against the Flame Emperor and the Five Dragon Generals.

However, the things mentioned in Option C might occur.

After all...

According to Kanan, whether it was the children's sacrifice or the Ice Kingdom's invasion, the Flame Emperor had done it helplessly to save the entire volcanic land.

From the perspective of the volcanic land, the Flame Emperor was not the villain but the hero to everyone.

If Kanan were to join the Silver Wolf Bandits to protect his son and the Flame Emperor suddenly told him that the sacrificial array wouldn't be activated… Not only would the people in the volcanic area die, but Kanan and his son wouldn't also live to see the next day.

Or perhaps...

The Flame Emperor had found a new sacrifice that could replace this group of people.

Would Kanan continue to cooperate with Zhang Yun sincerely then?

In Zhang Yun's personal opinion, Kanan would be more inclined to help the Prongia Empire and the Flame Emperor. It was only because of his son and the blood of his race as sacrifices that he became neutral.

Characters filled with complicated situations were always the most difficult to figure out in open-world games. They were also the hidden bosses who would most likely backstab the main character.

If Zhang Yun chose to believe in Kanan and brought him back to the border of the Ventaginya Kingdom to meet Fjolm and the Silver Wolf bandits…

Maybe, Zhang Yun was inviting a wolf into the house.

Therefore, in this situation, the best choice wasn't Option A. Rather, Zhang Yun should take advantage of the fact that Kanan was heavily injured by Dark Knight Leon and kill him first.

This way, not only could he avoid being stabbed in the back, but he could also avoid stabbing at the back.

It could also prevent Hero Kanan from becoming his enemy again after they parted.

After all...

To save the volcanic area…

The Flame Emperor could even sacrifice a few thousand innocent children.

Who knew if the Flame Emperor would make up a more reasonable lie to ensure the smooth implementation of his plan to invade the Ice Kingdom? With that, Hero Kanan, who had initially intended to give up, would take the place of the newly dead Dark Knight Leon and continue to charge into the enemy lines?