Capítulo 3: Plotting
> By reaching Rank 2 as a mage (Romage), you have cleared the optional quest <Munchkin>.
> By surpassing the limits of a Rank 1 spell, you have cleared the optional quest <Stand-out Extra> and obtained the attention of Sophia Lux.
> By catching the attention of Evelyn vi Eternia and Sophia Lux, you have cleared the optional quest <Introduce yourself to the cast>.
> You have obtained 120 SP. Your current SP is: 230 SP.
> You have obtained a Rank-up Voucher. This may be claimed from your Inbox.
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It was a mess.
I got so wrapped up in the fun of leveling that I forgot to focus on the bigger picture. As a result, I got the attention of two people I definitely shouldn't have.
Evelyn vi Eternia was the Imperial Princess. That alone would be cause for alarm, since anything involving the Empire was a no-go for a peaceful life. But she was also the star of the first act since she would be corrupted into a demon at the end of the semester and go berserk, forcing Roland to defeat her.
This was a critical event. Not allowing it to happen would throw all sorts of things up in the air.
Maximilian vi Eternia, Evelyn's older brother and the Crown Prince, was scheming all sorts of stuff with the bad guys to try and cement his place on the throne. That involved getting rid of his much too talented younger sister.
If she suddenly lived past the end of the semester, he would get suspicious and start probing and/or change his plans.
Then there was Sophia Lux, the Rank 9 Mage with the epitaph <Light of Wisdom>. Due to her unique domain of being able to assess an individual's worth at a glance, she had been roped by the Empire into creating a school for talented students.
It was a win-win, since she refined her domain while the Empire had a constant source of excellent personnel.
If it was just that, it would be fine.
My actions would be surprising for her, and she'd probably probe me, but it would just bring mostly benefits.
The problem was that our dear headmistress Lux also had a knack for predicting the future.
And as a result, she was well aware that the Demon God was going to be resurrected, and that his followers, the Void Arbiters, and the main apostle, the Void Sovereign, was a thing.
She just couldn't track them down specifically due to the unique way their powers interacted with magic.
As you could see, I had managed to gain the attention of two very beautiful, but also very dangerous (to me) women.
But not only that…
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[Story Quest: First Revision]
Description: Though minor, your actions have already caused ripples.
Objective: Discover and resolve the first subplot.
Time limit: Midterms.
Success: 10,000 SP.
Failure: Death
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A mandatory story quest. One with a great reward if I succeeded, but death if I failed.
Could it be any more stressful?
I didn't know what the hell had changed, so how the hell was I supposed to discover AND reserve an inserted subplot?!
I let out a frustrated sigh as I stared at the ceiling of my dorm room.
To distract myself from the hell already starting to unfold, I pulled out my phone to check my stats.
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[Status Screen]
Name: Alex Smith
Age: 18
Strength: 12.2
Agility: 12.2
Vitality: 12.2
Endurance: 12.2
Mana: 22
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Clear progress. Seeing those improved numbers felt very satisfying. …Though I wished that at least a few of my physical stats would have increased their base total.
You'd think persisting until you coughed up blood would improve endurance or something, but apparently not.
Anyway. While I managed to rank up as a mage, that unfortunately meant the cost for increasing my stats went up.
And while it only cost 10 SP per point initially, now it was 100.
Like, a whole ten times more just for a single point.
What the hell, man?
I get you want to balance things, but that's extreme, isn't it?
Won't this mean that it'll be 1000 SP for rank 3, 10000 for rank 4, 100000 for rank 5, and so on?!
Absolute BS.
Yeah, I wasn't going to my precious SP on stats. Not worth it.
Also currently not worth to use that rank-up voucher. Definitely going to save that for a rainy day.
It was much more cost-effective to save up for things from the shop while exploiting the crap out of my story's power system instead.
Speaking of which…
I stared at the ceiling and muttered, "How far should I go?"
There were plenty of avenues to get stronger.
I mean, I wrote this story, so I knew where all of Roland's power ups were.
Like the <Forgotten Blade> Art located in the midterm dungeon expedition, the Angel's Tears that miraculously boosted your rank hidden in the woods behind the school, etc.
However, if I took them, Roland would be weakened. And while he was definitely a fighter and miracle worker, lowering his chances of success was just shooting myself in the foot.
No, I wouldn't do that. Too dangerous.
On the other hand, if I kept exploiting things and introducing new variables, it was possible things could end up ridiculously out of whack.
For example, if someone else realized how to use <Stellar Mana Storm>, but had a higher talent with it, they'd break the world in half.
…Well, not really. The Void Sovereign was a hax character, so it'd be tough.
But either way, power creep issues would come into play.
Knowledge was power, but it was a double-edged sword when there were people as smart as, if not smarter than you.
I might have created this world and its laws, but there was that saying about the death of the author and all. There were plenty of things that I intended, but also plenty of things I didn't intend but still exist.
And those would be unknown variables that would cause me hell later on.
So back to the question at hand.
How much did I go with exploiting things?
I knew of a lot of ways to get quick power.
For example, from rank 2 onwards, you could overclock your mana circles by combining them all into one to cast a rank 6 spell. The downside was that you'd lose all your mana circles and cripple your heart doing it.
Since my heart was a mana star though, I could tank it. Probably wouldn't be able to do much for a while, but I'd be fine when most people would be dead or crippled.
But if I pulled a stunt like that and the bad guys saw it, they suddenly would have very effective suicide bombers.
"Hah… this is frustrating."
All I wanted was to live a comfortable life where I could spend my time either honing my skills or making stuff.
Well, that, or head back home and live a cushy live with a successful webtoon.
Unfortunately, I couldn't do that any of that until the Demon God was killed and the Crown Prince was either crippled or dead.
…Maybe I just buff Roland right now?
I could teach him the exploit he figures out later where he discovers how to overclock his body and heal it. Maybe I could even join his party and coincidentally find a bunch of things that would help him out.
Hell, he was a combat prodigy. I could even write out a few of the scrapped Arts for him as 'ideas' and help him implement them.
…No.
Although this story didn't have the Demon God/Hero relationship where one got stronger as the other did, I couldn't risk the Void Arbiters catching wind of Roland and either assassinating him or devising countermeasures.
Roland managed to survive the early days precisely because everyone underestimated him as a mere 'swordsman.' If he unlocked Durandal early or got too strong, that would change.
And while I *could* defeat the Demon God with enough prep time since I knew his hard counters, that would also make my life incredibly complicated.
Roland could do it since he came from a line of nobles with a proper lineage.
I, on the other hand, was an orphan.
Well, Alexander Smith was, anyway.
Apparently, his parents were normal civilians who were killed in a gate outbreak when he was 15. He swore revenge and worked his butt off to get into Starlight Academy, managing to somehow reach Rank 1 as both a mage and a warrior without any formal training or education in just three years. Literally a self-made and self-taught man.
Anyway, although he had an impressive backstory, it was still a no go for being the hero.
I had designed this world to be noble-focused. While the commoners lived a decent life due to the modernized era, nobles still ran everything. And there was a reason why the ruling Empire was called the Eternal Empire.
Even after the Skyfall Incident where gates randomly appeared, the Eternal Empire had retained an unbroken lineage from ten thousand years ago.
…Of course that would change after Crown Prince Maximilian goes off the deep end and kills his sister before dying himself later.
But the point was, the world wouldn't take kindly to a nobody like me being its savior. Not without me doing a whole revolution and getting rid of the nobility system.
…I was rather fond of it though, so I'd rather not.
Plus, it'd be sooo much hassle. Actually would never live it down.
But back to the problem at hand.
"...Guess I'll just play it by ear?"
I knew the story and setting well enough that, unless that asshole Rob threw in something completely out of left field, I should be able to predict and anticipate new plot points.
I tossed my phone on the floor and then closed my eyes.
Now.
Low-key protagonist who was secretly overpowered and helped the MC from the back, or flamboyant overpowered protagonist who stole the MC's spotlight?
I should do the former, but the latter option sounded so much fun…
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