Behind The Curtain

Words in a translucent pane were floating in the air in front of me. I could somehow feel instinctively that this wasn't magic. It was something more... foreign.

"So this is what you've been seeing this whole time," I muttered. "I just have to touch this spot where it says 'Yes,' right?"

I raised my hand to touch it, but Levin grabbed my wrist and stopped me.

"Huh? What's wrong?" I asked.

"Listen, before you do this, I need you to fully understand what it is you're getting yourself into," he said with a serious expression. "You're about to pull back the curtain of the reality you know. Once you press that 'Yes' button, you'll be going past the point of no return. I underestimated the Emperor's thoroughness, so Saige may not be able to stop him after all, but there's still time for you to gather your family and flee this city. You could hide away in a remote corner of the world and let me worry about the apocalypse."

"Bullshit."

"... I'm sorry?"

I pointed at Levin's exposed stomach, where a faint scar was visible.

"If I leave you to your own devices, you'll just die in a ditch somewhere. Hell, you don't even seem to have any mana. A child could kill you. You won't be stopping any apocalypse without some help. And do you have any people other than me that you'd trust with your life?"

"I... do not."

"Well then I guess that means I'm on world-saving duty, doesn't it?"

A faint smile spread across his face. He released my wrist.

"Alright. Go ahead, then."

I touched [Yes].

The pane vanished, replaced with a larger one where a procession of messages appeared one after the other.

[Registering individual 'Faulk, Tione' as User...]

[Registration complete.]

[Configuring User permissions...]

[Configuration complete.]

[Welcome to the Reality Correction System, Tione. Would you like to take the virtual tour?]

[Yes] [No]

"What's this 'virtual tour' thing? Should I touch 'Yes' again?" I asked.

Levin shook his head.

"Nah, that tutorial is crap," he said. "Way too verbose and doesn't prioritize the important stuff. It'll be more efficient if I just teach you directly, so press 'No.'"

I did as he said, and yet another new pane appeared. This time, it consisted of five rectangles, each of them with a label:

[Status]

[Map]

[Notes🔒]

[Comments🔒]

[Archive🔒] 

"Touch the 'Status' button," Levin said, pointing to the top rectangle from the back.

"You can see my panes?" I asked.

"Panes? Oh, you mean windows. Yeah, I can see them."

"How come I can't see yours, then?"

"Because I didn't share mine with you. I'm an admin so I get to control who sees what. Now, stop getting sidetracked and press the damn 'Status' button already."

"Okay, okay..."

A new pane—, or, window, appeared, although unlike before, the previous window didn't vanish. The new one simply floated next to it. Remembering the motions I'd seen Levin make, I tried pressing my fingers against the new window and moving it around the way I would move a sheet of paper on a desk. It moved obediently, and I found I could even push it forward or backward, or put it in front of the first window.

Levin snapped his fingers in front of my face.

"Focus, for fuck's sake. We can't sit around here all day. Read the Status window."

[SP Available: 2100]

<<Tione Faulk>>

Age: 16

Sex: Female

Mana: 201 / 3653

Attunement: D+

Basic Attributes:

STR / Earth: 76

DEX / Water: 122

AGI / Air: 198

WIL / Fire: 131

INT / Light: 151

WIS / Darkness: 254

VIT / Spirit: 83

Awakened Attribute:

<None >

Spells:

<Touch to Expand>

Techniques:

- Mana Beam

Skills:

- Sword: E

- Stealth: D

- Dagger: C-

- Bow: E-

- Cooking: D

- Etiquette: D+

Feats:

- System User

Conditions:

- Curious

- Fatigued

My jaw dropped as I took in everything I was seeing.

"This is... me? It's showing me my strengths and weaknesses, and the things I can do. Oh, 'Mana Beam'! That's the weird power you gave me, right? So it's a type of 'Technique'..."

"Yep. So, does it all make sense to you?"

"I think so... except, what's with this 'Conditions' section? 'Fatigued' I can understand, but why is 'Curious' considered a condition? That's just my mood, isn't it?"

"Don't ask me, I didn't design the damn thing."

"Also, what's the SP at the top mean?"

"That I will explain in just a moment. But before that, let me ask you a question. Do you think this world is real?"

I dragged aside my windows to get a clear look at Levin's face.

"Of course this world is real," I said. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"What if..." he said, pausing for what I assumed was dramatic effect, "... I told you that this world was just the setting of a novel? A product of a single author's imagination?"

Rather than respond with words, I leaned forward and flicked him in the forehead.

"Ow!? What was that for!?"

"Was that written in this novel you speak of?"

"No, but— fine, look, let's just drop the hypotheticals and get to the point. This world is based on a novel, and I am the author of that novel. The origins of this world, the nations that exist on it, the magic that enriches it, and the gods, devils, and monsters that call this world home: all of it came from words I typed— er, wrote."

"I see..." I said in a monotone voice.

"You don't believe me, do you?" he asked.

I shrugged.

"I mean, if that's true, then how are you inside your own novel? Oh, wait, maybe you aren't the real author, you're just a character that thinks he's the author because he was written that way."

"Oh come on, that's ridiculous... right?"

A troubled expression appeared on his face, and he started mumbling to himself.

"No, it can't be, because I remember— but if my memories weren't real, then— no, I have this System, don't I? But does that prove anything..."

Uh oh, did I break him?

After a few moments, though, he shook his head.

"Nah, screw it, it doesn't make a difference to me either way, so let's just drop the epistemology debate for now. According to my memories, I wrote a novel, then died, then some mysterious voices— gods, I presume— reincarnated me into that same novel as my 16-year-old self."

"I see..."

"Stop that! Look, you can believe that backstory or not, I don't care. But the fact is, I know the entire history of this world, and the ending that awaits it in seven years."

I crossed my arms.

"Speaking of that ending, if you're the 'author,' then doesn't that mean you're the one who wrote that this world will end?"

"Well... yes."

"Why?"

"I... was going through a rough patch."

"So, you're the kind of guy who just decides to kill off millions and millions of people because you were sad?"

He glared at me.

"Like. I. Said. This was all just in my novel. When I wrote it, it was a fictional story, nothing more. And we still have seven years to prevent those deaths, so if you'll stay on topic with me here, we can get started on that."

"Right, sorry."

"Anyway, you wanted to know about the SP, right? To start, look at this."

One of Levin's windows suddenly became visible to me, and he grabbed it and spun it around to face me.

[SP Available: 2100]

<<Levin Aiken>>

Age: 16

Sex: Male

Mana Capacity: 0 / 0

Attunement: —

Basic Attributes:

STR / Earth: 43

DEX / Water: 72

AGI / Air: 51

WIL / Fire: 45

INT / Light: 163

WIS / Darkness: 97

VIT / Spirit: 32

Awakened Attribute:

<None >

Spells:

<None >

Techniques:

<None >

Skills:

- Cooking: E+

- Vehicle Control: C

- Calculation: C+

- Engineering: D

- Illustration: D-

- Violin: E+

- Animal Handling: D-

Feats:

- System Administrator

- Authority of Vulcus

Conditions:

- Exasperated

- Anxious

- Fatigued

"Wow, those Attributes are pathetic," I couldn't help but blurt out.

"Hey, it's normal by my world's standards. It's just that the humans in this world are absurd. You don't realize what a huge boon mana is."

"I've been meaning to ask about that. How can you not have mana and still be alive? That's like living without breathing."

"That's because, if you believe my backstory, I came from another world, one without mana or magic."

If anything, that's probably the most convincing evidence he has. His existence contradicts all known laws of biology.

"Forget about my shitty stats," he said, pointing at the bottom of his status window. "Look down here at the 'Feats' section. If you touch one of the items there, it'll open another window explaining it. Oh, that's also true for most of the things you see in the System, by the way."

I touched both of them.

[System Administrator]

Grants admin access to the Reality Correction System, allowing full access to all features, the ability to view the Status of any target, and the ability to register new Users. SP can be gained and spent in various ways depending on the Authorities possessed.

- Current Users: 1/1

[Authority of Vulcus]

Authority of the God of Innovation. Grants the following benefits:

- SP can be gained by manually promoting growth, learning, and innovation.

- SP can be spent to grant new Spells, Skills, Techniques, and Feats to a target.

"So, SP is, like, some kind of currency?" I asked.

"Pretty much," Levin replied. "Don't go spending it carelessly, though, it's not easy to get. And for the record, there was no such thing as SP in the original novel. This is unique to this System."

"Which god is Vulcus, though? I only know the Bellian names of the gods."

"Oh, Vulcus isn't one of the seven attribute gods."

"So, one of the gods that sent you here?"

"Also no. He was in my novel. But, that's too long of a story to get into right now. So, you think you have a good handle on how this System works?"

I nodded.

"Just one question: how do I make them go away?"

"Corner button."

"Oh."

With the windows gone, I stood up and stretched.

"Okay, so what's next? Saige is going to talk to the Emperor like you wanted, but now you think that'll fail, right?"

"Yeah, I didn't explicitly write out what the Emperor was like right before this incident. In my mind, I had envisioned him in a near-manic state, shutting himself away, hence my plan to use Saige. But if this guy," he gestured towards the butler, "is anything to go by, then it's actually the opposite: the Emperor is actively gathering loyal followers and is carefully plotting to prevent any obstacles to his devil summoning."

"So, what does that mean for us?"

"Two things: in the long term, we now know that anything I didn't write down in the novel or my notes is basically a wildcard. And in the short term, it means we have to get the hell out of this city."