System! (2)

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The scene was still fresh in my mind, but the two figures on the ground fighting became vague again.

I could again feel that sensible burn in my body although I looked fine when I checked my body by looking roughly.

It felt like everything earlier was just a dream, but I knew it wasn't…

I knew what happened earlier wasn't just a dream because that pain was too damn realistic. But if that wasn't a dream then where am I now?

My eyes began to wander around the room again. I am still in the hallway where I first fainted.

I was still lying on the red carpet, but when I looked down I couldn't see any dark spots that signified I was bleeding like I was earlier.

My body still felt heavier than usual, but the profound pain before I collapsed seemed to vanish completely.

There were no mirrors anymore to see what I looked like, so I had to go off the fact that I was the 'so-called' villain: Dorian Andras.

'Dorian Andras'...

His barbaric personality made me dislike him. Even though the cast of characters are all bright, Dorian was always negative towards Allan and his crew even after his demise.

Even in the academy, the many villains Allan faced changed their ways, well most of them, but Dorian didn't. He hated Allan with his very guts until he turned into a God's demon.

The man was none other than a mischievous liar, and he was admitted into the academy after tricking the Andras family into giving him a recommendation letter.

By the time his family had found out that they had given the recommendation letter to him, he had already left for the academy and was already a part of it.

'The academy'- well the academy in the novel [Give Up? Never!] was called something like, "Convallaria Academy." It was held within the Empire's biggest district, Setrus.

I then again saw the red windows staggered above me near the end of my feet.

I began shivering as I remembered the nightmare from earlier...

That was also real.

The lasting seconds of suffering were all too surreal. I could feel like my soul was being torn apart. I sat up straight from where I was stow.

Nothing so far has been clear to me yet, so I just need to continue to push forward.

But what do I do now?

My thoughts were still scrambled. But one thought stood out in my mind:

This is my reality.

Moments before I collapsed I could've sworn I heard a 'ding' noise being made. It wasn't my imagination.

I stood up to face the red window that had caused my very torment moments ago.

 I took a step back and looked at the window in front of me. The window followed me, it was as if it was glued to my body.

A red window that was displayed in front of me was the same one as earlier.

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| [Shop] - SP |

|Mental Soul Power: 000022/100000 [+/-]|

|Physical Soul Power: 000009/100000 [+/-]|

|Soul Points (SP) Remaining: 101|

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It was that same window, my expression darkened and my body became tenser. I was startled while looking at that same screen.

I glanced a little to the left at the other window which used to hold the [Quest Clear] text and was dyed a red color, had turned into a blue window:

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| [Achievement!] First Person To Modify Your Soul! |

| - [Reward]: Gain immunity from the side-effects of modification towards your Soul! |

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So that's why I'm fine…

It was changing my soul from the inside, so I was fine physically, but my soul was completely altered.

It's not rare that the Soul can change but if it changed so drastically like it just did now, it would most likely make the person explode. How could I skip over that fact?

With that in mind, I let my fist unclench and my body became less tense.

I was a little ecstatic that I made it alive through this encounter. I briefly forgot I just modified my soul and almost killed myself.

"I only survived from exploding thanks to the system."

I still felt that impact that was engraved into my body, the stinging sensation was like an itch under my skin, and I could still feel the pang.

"This place is very much real..."

I've confirmed that I've now transmigrated, just like Allan Rayas did.

If that's the case, then I could change that ending, change everyone's fate from that damn author!

But then another notion appeared:

That Allan Rayas was a protagonist of this world…

And I am not. 

He was way too strong, Allan was able to kill the Final Horde because of his abilities. How could I possibly stop the endless amount of God's monsters?

I'm finally in my favorite novel but I'm not the protagonist! So what can I do now?

Allan didn't have some type of special ability that allowed only him to kill God's monsters, but he was just so overpowered that he could just kill anything. To make it more simplified;

The monsters were too strong, which made it so that only Allan, the strongest person in the world, could kill.

If I could become more powerful than Allan, then maybe I could stop the "Final Horde"!

I looked at the modifier screen again. My body was weaker than a toddler right now so I would have to spend all my 101 points right now towards my Physical Soul Power to become a functional human.

I started clicking away to my heart's content with the |+| button on my screen.

"This is boring~"

I continuously clicked the |+| button next to the |Physical Soul Power| and watched as the number slowly rose.

I could feel with each click my body becoming gradually lighter.

78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83…

Each time I clicked it I could experience my exhausted body getting replenished again.

This was some cheat code to be able to physically get stronger without having to work out.

If I had this system in my old world I would look jacked if I kept clicking this button.

Maybe with this system, I could become the protagonist instead? Could become stronger than Allan Rayas?

Doubts were still expressed in questions within my mind, but I was without a doubt getting stronger by the second. With these Soul Points, maybe I could become stronger.

But how do I get more of those Soul Points?

My |Physical Soul Power| had reached 110 and I could feel my revitalized body. My body was flourishing with tons of energy.

I didn't have much to do with this window anymore.

I looked at the red display again.

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| [Shop] - SP |

|Mental Soul Power: 000110/100000 [+/-]|

|Physical Soul Power: 000009/100000 [+/-]|

|Soul Points (SP) Remaining: 0|

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There was still one more place I hadn't explored yet, and I was too scared too.

On the top left corner of the | [SHOP] - SP | had an arrow;

| ←BACK |

I clicked on the self-indicated button and arrived at the same window as the start. I shakily click the one just below | [SHOP] - SP |

| [SHOP] - VP |

It glowed red compared to the other ones' blue color. When my finger contacted the button on the touchable window, it switched screens and showed a whole different layout than what I was expecting.

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| [Trait Shop]: |

| [Currency]: 100 [Villain Points] |

| The Calmness of The Heart (Complete) - The heart stays completely calm during intense or stressful situations. (Not Upgradable) |

| Nature's Embrace (Fragmented) - Briefly able to communicate with nature's environment. (Upgradable) |

| [Faker!] (Incomplete) - Able to somewhat convincingly create a fake scenario of people and act out some of it underwhelmingly. (Upgradable) |

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The shop continued with a seemingly endless amount of traits.

I couldn't believe it...

There were an endless amount of traits, that varied from innate to learnable ones. In [Give Up? Never!], there were two different types of traits: Innate and Learnable.

A range of innate traits were given randomly at birth, you could have multiple, or even just one. They range from completely overpowered ones like Allan's innate trait, [Copycat!], which gave the user the ability to copy anyone's soul weapon.

To completely useless ones like [Drunkyard] which lessened the time it took to chug a beer...

What was Dorian's trait in the novel?

I didn't know how to check, and I can't remember if he was stated to even have a trait. He was seriously portrayed as mysterious.

Allan's overpowered trait was found in the shop as I scrolled down, but to me right now that was honestly useless because I couldn't manifest a soul weapon right now.

I need a way to lie to my father if Lucy told him I didn't have the necklace on me.

I need to be able to keep calm and lie straight in his face if I want to keep Shaping Will and not get sent to torture...

The agony from before passed through my mind again...

It was really like no other. I don't want to experience something like that again.

Please.

I shrugged off the remembrance of such agony and focused on the screen again, my mind had already been set on one option when I saw it in the shop:

[Faker!].

This was necessary if I wanted to lie to that man.

But yet I hesitated again to click it.

The last time I clicked a button without a second thought, I was punished immediately, it led to hours of suffering in immense pain, and I don't want to make that mistake again.

I closed my eyes and turned my face, gritted my teeth, and forced my finger towards the piece of text [Faker!]

Ding!

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| [Would you like to purchase the trait 'Faker!' for 75 VP?] |

| [Yes] / [No] |

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My finger gravitated toward the | Yes | option. I started to sweat a little again.

The silence became crudely loud again. My body began to shake again from my previous experience.

I could hear the sound of my heart pounding again.

I closed my eyes and gripped my left fist harder than ever.

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My finger made contact.

After an eternally of darkness it landed on | Yes |.

Ding!

I felt nothing…

I open my eyes and suddenly all the pressure discerned moments ago completely faded and I let my body drop to the floor. I was so relieved that nothing had happened.

I peered up at the red window and saw the text:

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[Trait 'Faker!' Acquired!]

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I noticed a little soft blue aura begin to revolve around me. An alien energy began to run through my body and intrude it. I could sense the heat of the aura, it wasn't burning hot, but rather warm.

Shortly after, the blue light began to fade away in a matter of seconds. My muscles hadn't grown stronger but my heart began to beat slower.

Perhaps this indicates that my soul has grown stronger.

As I experienced this strange new sensation, I felt a surge of energy coursing through my body. With renewed vigor, I stood up and turned to face the enigmatic red window again.

It showed the same list but something new appeared above | Trait Shop | on the window:

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| [Current Traits]: |

| [Faker!] - Able to somewhat convincingly create a fake scenario and act out some of it underwhelmingly. (Upgradable) |

| [Trait Shop]: |

| [Currency]: 25 [Villain Points] |

| [Trait List] |

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At the end of the [Faker!]'s explanation, it said that it was 'Upgradable', so I clicked on the | Faker! | again anticipating it to be what it was supposed to be.

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| Would you like to upgrade the trait [Faker!]? |

| Cost: 5 [Villain Points]

| [Faker!] Will Evolve: Tier 1 -> Tier 2 |

| [Yes] / [No] |

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An upgrade in tiers? What difference does a tier make?

I prod | Yes | without another thought. Instantaneously the display of text changed again,

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| Faker! | Tier 1 -> Tier 2 |

| [Faker!] - Able to create a mediocre fake illusion or scenario of oneself and other people. Able to act out some of it underwhelmingly convincingly.

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I didn't discern any significant changes to my body, just the fact that the red display changed its text again.

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| [Current Traits]: |

| [Faker!] Tier 2 - Able to create a mediocre fake illusion or scenario of oneself and other people. Able to act out some of it underwhelmingly convincingly. (Upgradable) |

| [Trait Shop]: |

| [Currency]: 20 [Villain Points] |

| [Trait List] |

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I tried to upgrade the trait [Faker!] again but this time it was 25 VP which I didn't have.

I clicked |<-Back | on the display to end same home screen again.< p>

How do you get rid of this window? This would be annoying to have in my face every single time.

Don't you say something like a status window or something?

"Status window!" I shouted the name in excitement.

Nothing happened...

Well since that didn't work then now what? If I were to close the window or something it would be something like:

Status Close-

The red and blue window suddenly disappeared from my sight.

"Woah!" It was cool to see the windows quickly fade into nothing, it was like a real video game! So it looks like you didn't even need to shout the name of it just think of it.

That's pretty convenient... 

I felt a little embarrassed at what I had just hollered earlier.

Status Open

The two windows materialized again. A blue window was arranged left of the red window, but both were clearly in front of me again.

What do I do now?

With nothing else to do with the system, I quickly closed it. I speedily tread towards the only exit from this hallway. The door Lucy and the Duke's guards exited from.

Along the red carpets, my footsteps became the only noise audible in the corridor. The place was ample and not narrow. 

Why would they need this long walkway for just one room on the other end of it?

I remembered that room. It was in complete shambles when I woke up in it.

"Was that where Dorian lived?" I uttered in complete astonishment.

Nothing other than Dorian's misdeeds were noted in the novel, not where he lived, what else he did, and where he even made contact with the Gods.

Barely anything was mentioned about this guy, how did he become one of Allan's many main antagonists?

He was stated to be as strong as a regular demi-god threat with a rude personality in the novel, but currently, this body is a complete mess. 

I continued to walk down the hallway, step by step.

I put another frown on my face again.

Right now I can gratefully walk without being super drowsy, but I can't discern any apparent strength that he could have and I know that he has no soul weapon.

Wait...

What did Dorian even use to fight Allan?

How did he even fight someone as overpowered as Allan?