POV: Liam
The southern reaches of the Skyfall Continent were a desolate wasteland, a place where the sun felt like a physical weight pressing down on the earth. Amidst the swirling dust and the rhythmic thumping of heavy paws, a massive caravan snaked across the horizon. Four hundred soldiers, their armor clanking in a grim symphony, surrounded the central carriage with the vigilance of men guarding a tomb. Inside that carriage, my world began with a jolt of pure, unadulterated agony.
I woke up, but I didn't recognize the darkness. Every nerve in my body screamed, a white-hot fire coursing through my veins that made the simple act of breathing feel like swallowing shards of glass. I tried to gasp, to cry out for help, but my throat was a desert. Before I could even process the smallness of my hands or the strange plushness of the seat beneath me, a tidal wave of foreign memories crashed against the shores of my mind.
The force of it was violent. Images of a cold palace, the sting of a brother's palm against my cheek, the smell of a mother's indifference, and the terrifying void of blindness—it all poured in at once. My brain couldn't sustain the onslaught. With a final, silent plea for the pain to stop, I slipped back into the abyss of unconsciousness.
***
Several hours passed before the world returned to me. The searing pain had receded into a dull, manageable ache, leaving me to grapple with the aftermath of a "dream" that felt far too vivid to be a trick of the mind. In that dream, there had been no light—only a suffocating blackness where I could hear the cruel laughter of shadows and the whispered conspiracies of adults.
As I lay there, staring at the blurred ceiling of the carriage, the truth crystallized. I wasn't Mike anymore. Mike, the twenty-one-year-old otaku who had died in a spray of blood and digital vengeance, was gone. In his place was Liam—Liam Von Vermilion, the Ninth Prince of the Vermilion Empire.
I closed my eyes, searching the newly acquired memories. Liam was a tragedy etched in the annals of the royal family. Born to a maid who had been elevated to a concubine only out of the Emperor's fleeting whim, Liam was destined for misery from the moment he drew his first breath. When the physicians discovered he was born blind and devoid of any magical talent, the royal favor vanished instantly. He became an invisible stain on the Vermilion name.
His mother, the very woman who had gained a life of luxury through his birth, never visited him. Not once. He spent four years being the palace's ghost, a punching bag for his elder brothers who saw his royal blood as an insult to their own. They bullied him, beat him, and mocked the boy who couldn't even see the fists coming.
The breaking point came during the Empress Dowager's birthday gala. For the first time, the high nobles caught sight of the bruised, shivering four-year-old hidden in the corners of the palace. The whispers began—questions about the Empire's treatment of its own blood. Even the Empress Dowager, moved by a sudden spark of grandmotherly pity, demanded an explanation. The royal clan was shamed.
But the Emperor's "compensation" was nothing short of a death warrant. Theodore Von Vermilion, my so-called father, didn't feel guilt; he felt rage. He blamed the child for the shame brought upon the clan. In a display of cold, calculated cruelty, he granted Liam the Secluded State—a lawless territory teeming with vicious spiritual beasts and the Empire's most dangerous criminals—and ordered a four-year-old to "govern" it.
The nobles were horrified. Sending a blind toddler to the Secluded State was a public execution in everything but name. Even the Empress Dowager's influence hit a wall against the Emperor's decree. Once an Emperor speaks, the world must obey. All she could do was soften the blow with bags of gold and a guard of four hundred soldiers to accompany the boy to his inevitable end.
"How could they do this to a child?" I whispered, my voice sounding unnervingly high-pitched and fragile. "Sending him to a den of monsters? Not even letting him leave in one piece..."
I touched my ribs, feeling the bandages. Before being tossed into this carriage, Theodore had allowed his personal guards to beat the boy half-to-death, a final "lesson" in humility.
Suddenly, a cold realization gripped my heart. Theodore Von Vermilion... the Secluded State... the blind Ninth Prince...
"Wait," I gasped, my small fingers clutching the silken cushions. "Isn't this... isn't this the trash prince from my own novel? The one I wrote as a sacrificial pawn for the protagonist's rise? No way... I am inside the body of a cannon fodder character!"
Panic flared in my chest as I recalled the plot. In my novel, Liam was never meant to be a hero. He was the man executed to satisfy the main character's rage. He was forced into a political marriage with the MC's childhood friend, a woman who despised him. Later, it was revealed that Liam's own wife and the Crown Prince were lovers who had framed him for crimes he never committed. Liam died without ever knowing why, a puppet in a game he never understood.
"If I'm Liam... then I'm supposed to die."
I shook my head, trying to clear the fog. "But wait. If Liam was blind... how am I able to see the embroidery on these curtains? And my body... the pain is fading way too fast. What happened to the world I built?"
As if the universe were answering my question, a translucent blue screen shimmered into existence, floating in the air before my wide, childish eyes.
[Name: Liam (Mike)]
[Age: 4 (21)]
[Health: 100% (Recovery Completed)]
[Cultivation Qi: None]
[Cultivation Body: None]
[Skills: High Senses Lv. 5 (The ability to perceive everything within a 10-meter radius)]
[Servants: 0]
[Summon Tickets: 2 Low-Level Summons]
I stared, paralyzed by the sight. "A system? My novel didn't have a system. This must be the reason for my healing... and my sight." I felt a flush of embarrassment as I looked around the empty carriage. "Ahem. System... can you hear me?"
I waited for several minutes, my heart thumping against my ribs. Nothing. No mechanical voice, no AI assistant.
"Is it a silent system?" I mused, drawing on my years of reading web novels. "Maybe it doesn't have an AI. If it's command-based, I should be able to control it with my thoughts."
I focused my mind on the blue window. 'Close System'.
The screen vanished instantly. A small, triumphant smile crossed my face. I was on the right track. I was about to summon the screen again when a thunderous voice shattered the silence of the carriage.
"Open the gates! The Ninth Prince has arrived at the border!"
I scrambled to the window, pulling back the heavy velvet curtains. Outside, a gargantuan wall made of black stone loomed over us, its gates so massive they looked like the entrance to another world. But it wasn't the wall that caught my breath. It was the glowing, ethereal text floating above the gateway, visible only to me:
{ Secluded City: The Fallen Resting Place of the Sword Maniac's Inheritance }
My jaw dropped. I knew that name. I had spent three nights designing the 'Sword Maniac' and his legendary, hidden tomb. It was a secret I had tucked away in the lore of the Secluded City, a treasure meant to be discovered much later in the story.
A wild, hysterical laugh bubbled up in my chest and burst out of my throat. "It's all here... everything I wrote... every secret, every treasure, every shortcut... it's all mine!"
Outside, the soldiers heard the high-pitched, manic laughter echoing from the Prince's carriage. They exchanged glances of pity and fear, convinced that the trauma of exile and the beating had finally snapped the blind child's mind. They had no idea that the "trash prince" was no longer blind, no longer helpless, and certainly no longer planning to die.
The game had changed. And as the creator of this world, I was the only one who knew the rules.
Latest Chapter
99
While Doynes had spoken those words with casual confidence, the truth was far more complex: reverse-ether manipulation was not a skill just anyone could pick up through simple determination. Those capable of channeling reverse-ether were almost exclusively individuals born with freakish, innate talent or rare, divine blessings stamped into their very bloodline. Elona lacked the natural constitutional alignment to harness reverse-ether natively, but looking at her determined expression, Doynes felt entirely secure in his own capabilities. If anyone had the knowledge and skill to guide her toward bridging that gap, it was him."I can teach you the core principles and share what I know," Doynes offered with a faint smirk. "Whether you actually succeed in mastering it, however, will depend entirely on your own discipline and raw talent."Elona's face lit up with fierce determination. "I will dedicate myself to it completely. I won't let you down."Doynes chuckled, turning his attention bac
98
Stepping forward past the murmuring crowd, Elona approached Doynes, offering an apologetic, solemn bow of her head. "Please accept my sincerest apologies for my retainer's disgraceful behavior, young master Argent. I give you my absolute word that I will take strict disciplinary measures to ensure such an embarrassing incident is never repeated."Doynes cast a final, blistering glare down at the bleeding guard. "See that you do. It would save everyone a lot of unnecessary bloodshed."Mars, meanwhile, was silently burning up with a toxic mixture of white-hot fury and utter humiliation. He was a trained, sworn protector—a warrior of substance—yet here he lay, completely dismantled and disgraced by a mere teenager right in front of his master, forcing Lady Elona herself to offer apologies on his behalf. Blinded by wounded pride and uncontrollable rage, Mars let out an animalistic roar, yanked his broadsword violently from its scabbard, and lunged forward in a reckless, blind-side assault.
97
When Mars’s gaze dropped downward and caught the distinct family crest gleaming proudly upon Doynes's left chest, the blood drained entirely from the guard's face. The realization struck him like a thunderbolt: the teenager standing before him belonged to the fearsome House Argent.Instantly, all the defiance drained out of Mars, replaced by a cold wave of dread. His knees nearly buckled, and his voice dropped an octave into a desperate, trembling register. "F-Forgive me, young master... This is merely a private misunderstanding concerning Lady Elona. There is truly no need for you to involve yourself in such trivial matters."Ignoring the groveling guard entirely, Doynes closed the distance in a blur of motion, stepping protectively in front of Endroma. He reached out, gently checking Endroma's arms and shoulders. "Are you alright, End? Did this piece of trash manage to hurt you or scare you in any way?"Both Elona and Mars stared at the interaction with a mix of shock and bewildermen
96
All around the perimeter of the main castle, auxiliary observation towers rose proudly toward the sky, pulsating with a rhythmic, luminous glow. Even from a distance, Doynes could distinctly feel the thick, concentrated density of the ether radiating outward from those arcane spires."Good grief..." Doynes murmured under his breath, his eyes narrowing slightly as he analyzed the ambient currents. "The ether concentration leaking out of those structures is practically nipping at the heels of a semi-special-class mage..."Before Doynes could finish his thought, a sudden burst of restless energy overtook Endroma. Without warning, the young elf broke into a light, joyful sprint, his silver-blonde hair catching the sunlight like spun glass. Caught completely off guard by the sudden movement, Doynes blinked, standing frozen for a split second before shaking his head with an indulgent, fond smile and chasing after him. Endroma was running freely, fueled by a surge of unadulterated excitement,
95
The sprawling administrative procedures and initial threshold formalities had finally drawn to a close, marking the official beginning of their journey. Doynes and Endroma stepped side by side across the polished marble flooring, diving straight into the sprawling labyrinth of the legendary wizard tower. Every corridor hummed with an invisible, ancient resonance, vibrating with the collective concentration of hundreds of elite practitioners striving to grasp the fundamental secrets of the cosmos."Isn't this place just breathtakingly beautiful?" Endroma whispered softly, tilting his head upward to gaze at the soaring vaulted ceilings where shimmering constellations of magical energy drifted like slow-moving fireflies.Doynes glanced sideways, a gentle, softening warmth touching his usually sharp golden eyes. "Yes, it truly is magnificent. But to be entirely honest, the one thing making this place genuinely beautiful is right here beside me."At the unexpected compliment, a violent, cri
94
Doynes shrugged nonchalantly. "So what if he can? I might not have been born with two overpowered innate techniques like you, but I'm still more than strong enough."Realizing he was losing his temper over a teenager, Blade let out a long sigh, sank back down into his seat, and ran a hand through his messy hair. "Fine. The vajra you hold... it truly is as unique as mine."Herry cleared his throat to break the lingering tension. "Alright, enough idle chatter for one day. Doynes Argent, would you be so kind as to explain your vajra to us and perhaps give us a live demonstration?"Doynes clasped his hands together casually. "My vajra is a summon-type ability that I call the 'Ten Sacred Treasures'."Inside his mind, Blade smiled inwardly, thinking, 'Show me your true power so I can copy every single piece of it.'Doynes quickly formed a precise hand seal shaped like a wolf's head. "Divine Wolves." Instantly, two massive wolves materialized out of thin air—one stark white, the other pitch b
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