Villain Simulator, Ch 95

[But just like Anya, I can read your mind! You definitely want to start another simulator run, right? Maybe you'll even find a way to unlock the mystery of the Ring of Manipulation.]

Xiao Xi certainly knew Lucas better than anyone.

"You're not wrong," Lucas nodded in agreement. "I'm bored just waiting around anyway. Let's play until Jean gets back."

[Please select three talents from the following list. One will be randomly retained as a permanent talent after the simulation ends.]

- [Left-Handed (White): You excel at using your left hand.]

- [Growing Old Together (Green): If you have a partner, both you and your partner's lifespan will be extended by 20 years.]

- [Alchemist (Purple): You have an exceptional talent for alchemy. When performing alchemy, there's a chance to create special products.]

- [Path of Detachment (Blue): While single, all your attributes are increased by 50%.]

- [Respected (Blue): You are more likely to earn others' respect.]

- [Demolition Genius (Blue): All your "explosive" attacks deal 50% more damage and have 100% increased range.]

- [Outlaw (Blue): You have a 50% higher success rate when performing any "criminal" actions.]

- [Beyond Yin and Yang (Blue): You are neither male nor female.]

- [Freedom of Choice (White): If you become pregnant, you are required to give birth.]

- [Furry Enthusiast (White): You have a strong liking for furries.]

After a quick scan of the talents, Lucas's attention was immediately drawn to [Alchemist]. It was the only purple talent, and its practical effect made it highly valuable. Even if he gained no other rewards from this simulator run, retaining this talent would make it worthwhile.

As for the other talents, none particularly caught his interest. He casually selected the blue [Demolition Genius], and for the last pick, he chose his reliable go-to: [Try Again], a talent that allowed for a second chance.

[Talent selection complete. Generating character profile.]

[Simulation beginning...]

[Age 0: You are born in a village near Mondstadt. Your father works in a mining operation, specializing in explosives.]

[Age 1: Though your family isn't wealthy, you never go hungry.]

[Age 2: Due to his job, your father rarely comes home. But whenever he does, he always brings you gifts.]

[Age 3: Nothing of note happens.]

[Age 4: Perhaps because of your father's profession, you develop a strong interest in explosives and gunpowder from an early age.]

[Age 5: While playing, you accidentally ignite some gunpowder, blowing a large hole in the kitchen wall (Talent: Demolition Genius activated). Your father gives you a sound beating for it.]

[Age 6: Realizing your keen interest in explosives, your father starts teaching you basic techniques. He isn't highly educated, so most of what he teaches you is based on practical experience rather than formal knowledge.]

[Age 7: You become close friends with your neighbor Virginia, who follows you everywhere like a shadow.]

[Age 8: You take Virginia on an adventure, using homemade explosives to fish in the river. After getting reported to the village chief, both of you receive a severe scolding. However, this doesn't dampen your passion for explosives in the slightest.]

[Age 9: Your skill in making explosives has become increasingly refined. Sometimes, your ingredient ratios are even more precise than your father's, which makes him proud. If the mining crew didn't have age restrictions, your father would have wanted you to join him sooner.]

[Age 10: You frequently use your homemade explosives for pranks, like scaring people with loud bangs. Virginia is often the target of your mischief. You love seeing her cry and then chase you angrily.]

[Age 11: Your father discovers your "hobby" and gives you a serious talk: Gunpowder is dangerous. It can harm people, but it can also protect them. He acknowledges your talent but warns you not to use it for the wrong purposes.]

[You brush off his concerns, declaring that your dream is to create the most powerful weapon in the world, one even more potent than a Vision.]

[Age 12: Your father uses all his savings to send you to school in Mondstadt. However, you're uninterested in the boring subjects they teach. You long for your explosives, the freedom of the countryside, and Virginia's smile.]

[Age 13: Despite your disinterest in most subjects, you develop a keen interest in alchemy. You discover that combining alchemy with gunpowder could produce more stable and effective explosives (Talent: Alchemist activated).]

[However, alchemical tools and materials are not freely available, so you apply for a job cleaning the alchemy classroom. In your spare moments, you secretly conduct your experiments.]

[Age 14: Your intelligence and talent lead to progress in your research, although it remains a secret. Mondstadt enforces strict regulations on alchemy, especially prohibiting weapon-related research.]

[Age 15: Ironically, your pursuit of stronger explosives leads to an unexpected result: your alchemy grades skyrocket. You are offered a scholarship to further study alchemy at Sumeru's Academia.]

[You aren't passionate about alchemy, but going to Sumeru would provide access to more knowledge and materials. However, disaster strikes when an accidental explosion reveals your secret experiments. Although you narrowly avoid criminal charges, you are expelled, and your scholarship is revoked.]

[Age 16: You return to your hometown. Your father is furious about your expulsion but ultimately accepts it. With your current knowledge, you are more than capable of taking over his role in the mines.]

[On the other hand, you reunite with Virginia, who has grown into a beautiful young woman. Despite the years apart, her affection for you hasn't faded.]

[Age 17: Naturally, you two fall back into your old habits, spending much of your time together. With the scholarship money you had saved, you secretly build a small alchemical lab in a nearby cave to continue your research.]

[You are determined to prove yourself to Mondstadt's alchemists by perfecting your explosives. Virginia is the only one who knows about your secret lab, and she often stays with you, keeping you company during your experiments.]

[You create various alchemical trinkets to entertain Virginia, and you both spend hours chatting and laughing.]

[However, your research is fraught with difficulties. Your makeshift lab cannot support your grand ideas, and the cost of rare materials is your biggest obstacle.]

[Age 18: One day, Virginia sneaks some of her father's wine from the cellar. You use beakers as makeshift glasses, and the two of you drink like adults. Alcohol becomes the catalyst for deepening your bond, and on that moonless night, you and Virginia experience something more intoxicating than the wine itself.]

[As you watch Virginia curled up on the wooden bed like a small cat, doubts creep into your mind. Instead of wasting your time and energy on these experiments, perhaps it would be better to abandon everything and live a simple life with Virginia.]

[You resolve to end your research. But as you stare at the leftover materials and the untested formulas, you decide to give it one last try.]

[Perhaps due to having no reservations anymore, this final experiment yields your most successful result yet—a micro-bomb the size of a fist, capable of leveling half the village.]

[Just as you're celebrating, the remaining materials in the lab begin to react violently. Without thinking, you grab the still-sleeping Virginia and attempt to flee the cave.]

[But as soon as you exit, the cave explodes. The blast knocks you both to the ground. Your last memory before losing consciousness is holding Virginia tightly in your arms.]

[You wake up sometime later, groggy from pain. The explosion didn't kill you, but it did take one of your arms.]

[Before you can face your father's wrath, you rush to find Virginia. Thankfully, she's alive and unharmed. When you arrive at her house, she's sitting in the garden. You call her name, but she doesn't turn her head.]

[Your voice, however, draws the attention of her father. For the first time, you see this gentle man's face contort with rage as he punches you. That's when you learn that Virginia lost her hearing in the explosion.]

[You accept her father's beating without complaint, consumed with guilt. Your father arrives just in time and suggests cutting off your ears as punishment.]

[Surprisingly, Virginia's father stops him, having calmed down somewhat. He admits that he and Virginia have already discussed a "solution." If you agree to marry her, he won't press charges.]

[Despite her beauty, Virginia's hearing loss would make it hard for her father to find a suitable match.]

[You immediately agree, vowing to spend the rest of your life making amends for your mistake.]

[As for your groundbreaking invention and your reckless dreams, you decide to seal them away forever. You swear never to touch anything that could harm those you love.]

[Age 19: In the blink of an eye, half a year has passed since your marriage to Virginia. Despite you having lost an arm and her being deaf, these challenges haven't diminished your happiness together.]

[However, due to your hatred and fear of explosives, you quit your job as a demolition worker. Instead, you began using alchemy to create small medicines and trinkets to sell in Mondstadt.]

[Your alchemical products are of decent quality. Though you're not getting rich, they provide enough to live comfortably. Virginia is a gentle and caring wife, never complaining about her hearing loss, and you've begun learning sign language for her sake.]

[Age 20: This year brings two blessings to your family. First, using your savings, you build a new home by the waterfall outside the village. This was Virginia's idea; because of her hearing loss, she often felt self-conscious about people talking behind her back, so she wanted to live somewhere more secluded.]

[The second piece of good news is the birth of your child, a healthy, beautiful girl. Virginia suggests naming her "Klee," a name from ancient Mondstadt meaning "four-leaf clover," symbolizing luck. She hopes her daughter will be spared from the misfortunes you both endured.]

Wait... Klee? Isn't Klee's mother supposed to be the elven adventurer Alice? Could this just be a coincidence?

[Age 21: Klee's arrival brings a great deal of joy to your family, motivating you to work even harder. Though your alchemical skills are good, having only one arm significantly hampers your productivity, forcing you to work twice as hard to make ends meet.]

[Thankfully, your father still provides you with some financial help, but his age is catching up with him. You often urge him to rest more, but the stubborn old man works as hard as the younger miners.]

[You know he wants to earn extra money for your family. Whenever he sees his granddaughter, the hard wrinkles on his face soften into a smile.]

[Age 22: Tragedy strikes when your father loses his life in a mining accident. The mine's foreman, an old acquaintance of your father, gives you a generous compensation and offers you the position of demolition worker, with a decent wage.]

[Despite your hatred of explosives, you accept the job to support your family.]

[Even though years have passed since you last handled explosives, your skills haven't dulled. In fact, you realize you still enjoy the process of creating explosions—especially the satisfaction you feel when your work goes off perfectly.]

[Age 23: You excel at your job, even surpassing your father. You dream of earning enough money to move your family to the city and give them a better life.]

[Age 24: A strange woman named "Alice" arrives in your village. She introduces herself as an adventurer. You've never seen such a beautiful woman, but of course, your love for your wife is unwavering, and you have no inappropriate thoughts.]

[Alice takes an interest in your village and approaches the village chief with wild ideas, like capturing Hilichurls as labor or using Hydro Slimes for irrigation.]

[She even visits your home, where you're surprised to find her fluency in sign language is better than yours. She easily converses with Virginia and takes a liking to your daughter, Klee. Alice mentions that she, too, has a newborn daughter who is being raised in Mondstadt by the Knights of Favonius.]

[One night, after finishing your work, you encounter an unprecedented rainstorm on your way home. Upon reaching the village, you find Alice helping evacuate villagers due to a massive mudslide triggered by the rain.]

[You immediately rush to save your wife and daughter. Thankfully, your house is far from the village, so it should be safe from the mudslide.]

[But just as you approach your home, only a few hundred meters away, the mudslide finally crashes down, roaring toward the village.]

[At that moment, you witness something unbelievable—Alice hovering in mid-air, flames dancing in her hands, illuminating the night as if it were day.]

[She fires a series of explosive fireballs at the mountainside, triggering a massive explosion. The blast is the most incredible explosion you've ever seen, far surpassing anything you've ever created.]

[However, the explosion redirects the mudslide—now it's barreling straight toward your home.]

[No sound, not the storm, the explosions, the rumbling mudslide, or even Klee's crying, can wake Virginia, who sleeps soundly in your home. You dash toward them in a frenzy, desperate to save your last remaining loved ones, but the relentless mudslide swallows them, along with you.]

[Talent "Try Again" activates.]

[Miraculously, you survive, but your wife and daughter are gone, buried by the mudslide. You hide in the shadows, watching Alice and the villagers recover their bodies from the wreckage.]

[They shouldn't have died. The one responsible for all of this is Alice! While you understand she did it to protect the villagers, your overwhelming grief and hatred consume you.]

[You vow revenge. However, you know you're no match for Alice. Her power far exceeds anything you could comprehend. But soon, a more "cruel" plan forms in your mind.]

[Alice mentioned that she has a newborn daughter. Your plan is to kidnap her child and make Alice feel the same pain of losing a loved one.]

[No one finds your "body," but everyone believes you're dead. After all, how could a one-armed man have survived such a catastrophic disaster?]

[You hide in the shadows, watching your family's funeral. In that moment, all your dreams of a happy future are shattered by the woman named Alice.]

[At night, after everyone has left, you stand alone before the graves of your wife and daughter, placing a four-leaf clover on their tombstones. Then, you turn and walk into the darkness.]

[Age 25: After the tragic events, you went into hiding in Mondstadt for a while. Although your family was gone, you still had a sizable amount of savings, enough to last you for quite some time.]

[During this period, you gathered a great deal of information, including about Alice's daughter, who was less than a year old and had been left in the care of the Knights of Favonius while Alice herself embarked on yet another journey.]

[To be honest, you started to doubt whether Alice truly cared about her daughter. If she didn't, your plan for revenge would be meaningless. Nevertheless, you decided to proceed—revenge had become the only thing keeping you alive.]

[Your plan wasn't just to kill Alice's daughter. That would be too simple. No, you intended to abduct her, raise her yourself, and teach her from a young age that Alice was her mother's killer.]

[Once she grew up, you'd ensure she would seek vengeance on Alice. Whether Alice or her daughter perished in the end, your revenge would be complete either way.]

[Of course, this plan was no easy task. Aside from abducting Alice's daughter from the heavily guarded Knights of Favonius, there was another, larger problem—how to conceal her identity.]

[The traits of the elf race are far too distinctive. With Alice's vast network and connections within the Knights, finding an elven baby wouldn't be difficult.]

[Fortunately, while studying alchemy, you had stumbled upon a formula for a potion that could temporarily suppress the elven bloodline, making the child appear human for a certain period.]

[You didn't have time to wait any longer. With each day Alice's daughter grew older, the likelihood of your plan's success dwindled.]

[After preparing everything, you made one final decision—you destroyed your own face. Although Alice believed you had died in the mudslide, she still remembered your face.]

[Using alchemical compounds, you burned your throat and half of your face. The physical pain meant nothing; the psychological torment had long since numbed you. With this "new appearance," you wandered through the village, confirming that not even the villagers could recognize you before you began the first phase of your plan.]

[You had already memorized the patrol schedule of the Knights of Favonius. On a stormy night, under the cover of thunder and lightning, you used a specially prepared sedative to knock out the freshly rotated guard before sneaking into the Knights' headquarters.]

[It didn't take long to locate the room where Alice's daughter was being kept, thanks to the cute nameplate Alice had designed for her child's door—an ironic aid in your mission.]

[As expected, the door was protected by some sort of magical seal, allowing only certain individuals to open it.]

[But you had no intention of using the door.]

[With your extensive experience in alchemy, you had crafted micro-explosives that could blow a hole in the wall without harming the room inside.]

[You timed the explosion with the next lightning strike. As the deafening thunderclap echoed through the air, you detonated the charge.]

[Strangely, as you carried out this criminal act, you felt unnervingly calm, as if this operation had been rehearsed in your mind thousands of times.]

[You entered the nursery and finally saw your target—Alice's daughter, lying peacefully in her cradle. Her large crimson eyes and pointed ears confirmed her elven heritage.]

[What puzzled you was how, despite the raging storm outside and the explosion that had just gone off, the little one seemed completely unafraid.]

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Author's Note: Well we did not reach the required ps 😔 So no extra chapters for you today!