Surviving in my Own Unpublished Failed Novel

Two weeks had passed since the beginning of Russell's existential crisis, and it was time for the end duration of the System Reboot.

The System Reboot was the greatest change that Russell had written in his unpublished novel since he recognized his mistakes when he was writing it. He didn't rewrite it, but rather told himself that it was feasible to change things along the way — not that most information was faulty since the Untouched Elements in his novel "never" affected the story until its very end.

"In the world of Fantasy, everything can work."

The sentence he reminded himself of before he had written the System Reboot, but this was reality.

A reality he was reincarnated in; he who ran from the mysteries behind it, but pulled in unveiling it — like a man deprived of his free will.

***

[99.9%...]

[Universal Announcement!]

[The System Reboot has ended.]

[With mysterious reasons, the "last" Close Mystery Tower's eternal power has seeped out and spread throughout the Great Universe.]

[The cog of time has been disrupted!]

[The Sea of Mana that is ethereally flowing has been consolidated due to the power of the "last" Close Mystery Tower!]

[These will be the changes that will take place.]

[...Fortitude.]

[...Swift.]

[...Intelligence.]

[...Attributes.]

[...Sacrificial Altar.]

[...Golden Stats.]

[...Main Stats.]

There was too much information and change that Emmanuel Lyncoster would certainly have a hard time wrapping his head around it.

***

Russell — with every energy or will to live he has left — let the System's feminine voice speak in his head.

One of the changes was that the player wouldn't need to browse the System's message anymore to know the information, rather, it would ring in the player's head, automatically processing the information as though everyone had a futuristic Artificial Intelligence that could tell them everything without even bothering to read it. Though this information, especially the important ones, would have a limited time inside the player's head before it would be forgotten — that time, the player must acquire other means of remembering everything, and that's where Emmanuel Lyncoster came in.

And when a player browsed the System, instead of blankly looking in the air like before, other players could now see a light blue, but the blurred holographic screen in front of the player who was doing the browsing. Though, the information wouldn't be able to see by others unless it was willingly shared by the player through any way of sharing like having a formal party made with the System's function.

After some time of the seemingly endless announcement, including the messages he received upon the end of his visions, Russell sat on his bed. Even after two weeks, he couldn't accept what he had witnessed — something that truly crushed his identity, it drilled into his soul.

- Pathetic! Nothing will change even if you mumble like that!

- Oppa... stop being pathetic... It's not about ourselves... think of a way so that our family will be out of this fucking mess!

Out of nowhere, he seemed to remember the words of his younger sister, Freya, when he blamed himself after they were unexpectedly caught by Artorious Hall.

"I can't go on like this..."

<Yes, you can not.>

He almost jumped in fright upon hearing a very familiar voice that left an impression on him. It echoed in his head, and it wasn't the System's girly voice.

"G-Goddess...? I-I thought you are in slumber?"

<I still am. It's the power of the Symbol of Night that allows me to communicate with you, but this will only be temporary. I know you have many questions, but the answers will reveal themselves over time.>

"I don't know what to do anymore. I'm lost. Who am I? Why it happened just after my birthday? Are Freya and my parents even my real family? Please, enlighten me..."

<Don't push yourself in finding the answers right away, but I can tell you that Freya, Melina, and Arche are your real family.>

The Goddess of Night's soft voice echoed in Russell's head, which gradually calmed him down in a very strange way — like it was a voice he longed for a long time.

<There is not much time. I know you are probably wondering, too... That I'm a Primordial Goddess, but I'm reduced in this state of weakness. But, do not worry about it. Focus and move forward.>

<Trust in the book you had written! It wasn't finished yet! But you should re-read it before you give it to Freya, before the book will be taken care of by Red and Violet — The librarian of the Library of the Dead.>

<I don't want to say this, though this might be harsh on you and cause you to blame yourself, but... The first time you used the Cosmic Question, the balance has been shaken. That's why I advised you to never use the three remaining Cosmic Question you have. It would bring an irredeemable universal catastrophe.>

<You probably thought that it was just a hidden System setting you had written on a whim... Heh. Not that I can blame you for thinking like that.>

<Apart from that, never even attempt to speak the password to access the Cosmic Question function unless you reached the final floor of the last Close Mystery Tower. Sigh... It's because you attempted to speak it that the System Reboot has been forwarded, at least it will resolve the mess you had written, right? Take heart!>

<It's been years since you first used it to find out if you are reincarnated or not, and this time, I couldn't stop the reality that's pushing itself forward, that's why I'm going into slumber.>

<Russell... Moon... take care of the Egg. This is a goodbye for now. Cheer up, you dummy.>

Crystal-clear tears were flowing down from his deep blue eyes. It's mixed of sorrow and freedom; an inexplicable combination of emotions that stemmed from his entire being.

Without wasting any time, with still watery deep blue eyes, as the Goddess of Night's voice faded, he took out from his Dimensional Inventory the plain-purple notebook he named "Book of Changes". He jotted down everything that the Goddess of Night had told him as much as his memories served.

[The Egg looks at you with its solemn hidden eyes.]

With the eternal power that seeped out of the last Close Mystery Tower and the fully unsealed Symbol of Night, the Egg's hatch rate increased to exactly 13% — an amount that suddenly jumped, but seemed not enough.

After jotting everything down, he checked his Status Window which was updated after his vision even before the System Reboot had taken place.

***

[Status Window (Post-Reboot)]

Name: [Russell Moon, ???]

Race: [Human, ???]

Title: [The One Who Witnessed the Impossible], [The One Who Saw the Night Up Close], [Holder of a True Key of Chaos], [Resident of Chaos], [Explorer of the Micro-Universe]

Health Points: [100%]

Mana Points: [1,350]

Stamina Points: [2,000]

Chaos Mana: [3,000]

Age: ???

Sex: [Male]

Height: [170 cm.]

World: [Earth 342, ???]

Rank: [E+]

Profession: [Mediator of Chaos (temporary), ???]

Main Stats: Strength, Swift, Chaos Power

Star Contract: [Goddess of Night]

Stigma: ???

— STATS —

Strength: 460

Swift: 400

Intelligence: 50

Constitution: 200

Vitality: 200

Fortitude: 150

Perception: 150

Luck: 9

Magic Power: 135

Chaos Power: 300

Unallocated Stats: 0

— Unique Skill [1/6] —

[Chaos Buff]

— Skill [16/30] —

[Alien Call (Amplified) - Active]

[Chaos Consumption (Amplified) - Active]

[Chaos Collector (Amplified) - Active]

[Reinforcing Chaos (Amplified) - Active]

[Mark of the Night (Amplified) - Active]

[Absolute Concealment (Amplified) - Active]

[Gaze of the Abyss (Amplified) - Active]

[Eye of the Night (Amplified) - Active]

[Void Acupuncture (Enhanced) - Passive]

[Cull and Cut (Enhanced) - Passive]

[Scythemanship of the Reaper (Enhanced) - Passive]

[Soul Execution (Can not be Amplified) - Active]

[Swordsmanship of the Night (Enhanced) - Passive]

[Abyssal Cut (Amplified) - Active]

[Chaos Mana Sense (Enhanced) - Passive]

[Calm of the Shadows (Enhanced) - Passive]

— Attributes [3/3] —

[Nihility]

Description: Manifestation of "Nothingness."

[Under the Night]

[Chaos]

— Authority [1/2] —

[Void of Chaos]

[???]

***

"This is a mess."

He browsed his Status Window and compared it to what he had known.

- Trust in the book you had written!

He was reminded of the Goddess of Night's words not long ago.

"There's nothing wrong with the format... It's the new information, apart from what I know, is the real problem."

He noticed the question marks beside his [Name], his [Race], his [Age], his [World], his [Profession], and the newly acquired [Stigma] that probably came from the Symbol of Night, at least that's what his assumption. He didn't know how to react as though he turned into a ragdoll, devoid of life, waiting for a trigger for him to move.

[The Egg looks at you.]

"Sorry... This is just a lot to take in."

Even if he hadn't taken out the Egg from his Dimensional Inventory, it could communicate with him, and with the System Reboot, the System message was automatically heard in his head without even reading it.

After some time, trying his best to compose himself and go on with his life, he analyzed everything that changed according to what he had known from his unpublished novel, which the Goddess of Night had told him to continue trusting — which he also planned on doing. Though full of uncertainty, it would serve as a broken, but the repairable compass of fate.

The Health Points was now in [Percentage] unlike its usual numeric format; the Planet has been changed into [World]; the Agility and Dexterity stats has been combined and changed into [Swift]; the Charm stat has been changed to [Intelligence] and removed its maximum limit of 20; the Tenacity and Willpower stats has been merged and changed into [Fortitude].

Apart from the above-mentioned changes, the Skill Slot has been added — for every player's rank, 5 Skill Slots would be added, limiting the greed of the players in learning unnecessary skills. Then, regarding the Unique Skill, 1 slot would be added per rank; for Attributes, — previously Traits — 1 slot would be added per 2 ranks, and for Authority, 1 slot per 3 ranks.

Russell — who was downgraded to E+ Rank regardless of his present stats due to the System Reboot — only had 2 Authority slots, with one filled since the other was only question marks.

"Sigh... At least the Main Stats system is introduced."

He heaved a sigh of relief as he slowly took in the good side of these changes, at least.

"But... how the hell do I proceed with this? The description of every Title, Skill, Attribute, and Authority turned into Nothingness."

Apart from his Basic Information, including the Stats, every information ceased to exist due to the Attribute: Nihility, which for some reason, was left with that description — Manifestation of Nothingness itself.

[The Egg giggles at your returning self.]

Faintly smiling at the Egg's way of conversing with him, he brushed off the unsolvable problem for the moment, and he had taken out something from his Dimensional Inventory. It was something he had received after his visions — A book with a dark blue and purple cover, sharing itself as though the two colors couldn't exist without the other.

"The Forgotten Swordsman of the Ruined Star..."

He softly muttered the title of the novel he had written... in his previous life — a normal phrase that turned into an enigmatic one.

***

Holding a thin notebook in her hands, Amery flipped it intermittently as she lay on one of the benches of the Chaos Training Grounds. She's been doing it occasionally, for quite some time now, but to no avail, the thin notebook was blank. She felt like she was being deprived of a story that was meant to be told.

[Memento of the Blood Monarch.]

Amery had learned something from the God of Blacksmith, Vulcan. If whatever he said was only the truth, it would only make sense that Amery didn't evaporate in front of the presence of a God... because she has blood similar to her mother — Alicia Blight.

'But how did my mother live on Earth... physically, and how did she able to mate with my father? Is such a thing... No, it's possible, I just don't know how.'

She had many questions, but she wasn't pressed for time to arrive yet at answers. She was fearful about the mysteries that surrounded her parents' death, but at the same time, she was delighted to know more about her parents' story.

'I'm afraid... because her death through the hands of the purple-eyed man wasn't normal.'

She thought of the possibility, that was almost a certainty.