[“So that’s your situation.”]

[“Yes. I don’t intend to ally with any side. Yet.”]

I may be forced to choose one. I’ll decide then if it comes down to that.

Was it alright to chat with a demon? Pacing him around in circles wouldn’t do any good. Moreover, it’s a lie to say that I wasn’t curious about the demon’s side of things. Thus I made the choice to further my exchange with Radingo.

[“Can you give me information regarding which route you take to school? I’ll intercept you there. If you really can’t come to the association, I’ll bring a recruiter over to you.”]

[“I normally take the car.”]

I feel like an innocent kid being tricked by a scammer. Were his words trustable? Or should I begin first by consulting with Cain? I don’t even know if I can trust Cain.

Randingo had sent me the location of the nearest demon association. I have no idea what building that even is. It’s nowhere near where I live, nor my school.

[“Tell me your school, I’ll see how I can break in.”]

[“No thank you.”]

I held back on sending information to him about Saint High.

I am truly being scammed.

“Big bro isn’t drawing?”

Lia crawled up on the bed, I minimized the messaging window.

“I’ve already completed it.”

“Is it? You know, there’s this new trailer for a new game coming up. Do you want to try it? Oh, wait, you have an exam, maybe after your exam?”

“Let me see.”

Lia brought up the video. Randell and Innis squeezed in between me, what are they doing?

[Avner, Innis is trying to block you.]

[Don’t trust that bot. Avner, Randell is blocking you.]

“Innis, what are you doing?”

[Randell is the one blocking, not me.]

[I’m only trying to drive you away.]

“AI interactions sure are something.”

I waved my arm in front of them. Like ping pong balls, they began bouncing all over the room.

It’s an AR game you can preorder for free. The release date is late winter next year, and for those that pre-download the game now, some may be chosen for beta testing.

It’s an RPG game which integrates well with reality. You have to actually walk to find resources. Encouraging exploration through body movement, though not to the point where you fight each other with crazy moves.

Of course, games of this genre already exist out in the market, just that this one brings it to a whole ‘nother level.

It aims to blend the digital game world with reality. It’s going to involve projecting a lot of AR elements into the real world. Imagine for a second, walking in the city when you see instead a post-apocalyptic ruin with lush vegetation. You would find plenty of herbs, fruits, flowers, trees and perhaps even forest monsters around. These are all interactable.

The combat is turn based, strategy, with simple mechanics. The resource system involves a lot of grinding. The storyline and how the trailer was made, stunning. The animation of the characters, a blend of 2d and 3d art.. on point.

But, what caught my eye weren’t all those which I pointed out above.

It was the trademark of the company behind the game.

Polyvile Co. Ltd.

The all too familiar name of Polyvile Co. Ltd..

There's a deep story behind this company which involves one of the four different major characters in .

I’ll talk about it again when xe shows up in Saint High next year. But in short, the game became an extremely successful one. Xe’ll create an entire following for this game in school, and your level or progress in the game will become a status of sorts.

And xe’s plenty obsessed with the game.

Also, if you haven’t realized, the character routes are a mix of male and elves. That’s because the main heroine is a girl. Not to be mistaken for the MC, who is Rurita, the villainess.

I’m pretty sure the only reason why Novelle created three genders is for her convenience. She said once before that trying to write a novel without creating a harem is quite difficult. So she intentionally created something like 3 genders so that a legal harem can be made.

Did you only realize how messed up Novelle’s story is?

I reached over and pulled the drawer. I took out the two envelopes.

No, I don’t need Pu’er confession.

This.

This blank one.

“Why are you looking at that again?” Lia mumbled a question, all the while focusing on hirs base building game.

“I’m just testing something.”

The paper was white, nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Could it contain something more? Maybe another dream? Another clue?

There’s no way Novelle could’ve come all the way just to drop a blank envelope into my locker, hoping that I would have a dream about her right?

Who knows?

Could it be that Novelle placed a spell on this envelope? Maybe, there’s another world? Novelle, involved in some ordeal might have some sort of magic powers which allows transference of messages through dreams?

That can’t be right. There’s almost no mention of high fantasy or supernatural elements in . Except for Avner’s case. Otherwise, it’s supposed to be a grounded slice-of-life story filled with all sorts of misunderstandings.

And survival.

Though, now that news regarding the treatment method for NtBM has spread, I suppose the survival aspect is gone. I’ve also prevented the vampire cult.

“Where are you exactly..”

Give me another clue, Novelle.

===

“Avner, morning!”

“Morning, Pu’er. Anything?”

“No, it’s just, your miasma gauge went down.”

Miasma gauge? What?

“Does that have anything to do with your system?”

“Sys.. I think it’s different. I've been able to see it since I was born.”

Xe could see it since xe was born?

The mystery deepens.

“So you’re opening up to hir and shooing me away huh, Avner?” Ares intervened.

“Sorry Ares. I wasn’t myself the past few weeks.”

“Apology accepted. So, how’s progress then?”

“Barely any.”

“I watched a video just yesterday, it’s normal for things like these to take a lot of pain and grit. So good luck, I’m rooting for you.”

“Thanks Ares.”

“I’m getting nowhere on my blog either..”

“You write a blog?”

“I do.”

Pu’er sent me a link last Friday that brought me to a rather interesting article. It hit me then that I, as Shin, had this habit of writing a journal in my previous life. He normally jots down important ideas for daily improvements. I don’t know why I stopped.

Recalling that, I’ve begun a digital journal. It wasn’t like the article Pu’er sent me talked about the importance of writing a journal. More like, it’s important to pour out ideas from your head if you want to keep creativity flowing. An odd analogy is like harvesting honey. If you leave it, the bees would become complacent and the hive will stop growing. You need to harvest it every now and then to obtain that syrupy gold.

Inspiration strikes at the most unexpected places.

While Ares and Pu’er continued their conversation. I pulled up my drawing application and began to work.

“Morning, Avner.”

I raised my head.

“Morning Cailly, anything?”

“Can I spare some of your time later during lunch?”

“What do you want to talk about?”

“NtBM.”

“Okay.”

“Thank you. I’m not the one alright? So no worries.”

I nodded.

Ares and Pu’er had stopped to look at me.

===

dotturndot: Cailly gets some spotlight! I think xe’s a sub character in the database? Or did I put hir as a mob character? Don’t remember..