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October 16, 2052

Ten years ago, inside the barn that was being taken care of by Melina and Arche, Russell and Freya\'s parents.

Wearing tattered clothes befitting of their social class as slaves, Melina and Arche, together with their son, Russell — who was 6 years old at that time; and daughter, Freya — who was 5 years old at that time, was waiting until the clock hit 12:00 A.M. since it would be Russell\'s 7th birthday.

After a few minutes of waiting, with the help of the System that Melina and Arche possessed, they monitored the time with the absence of a physical clock; then it hit 12:00 A.M., signifying the start of the next day, October 17, 2052.

Melina, Arche, and the innocent Freya looked at Russell, waiting for his response.

...

[System Downloading... 1%... 2%... 33%... 99%.]

[Congratulations on turning 7 Earth Years Old!]

[You have become a \'Player\'!]

[Generating Status Window...]

[Awakening with the following professions...]

[Generating the Player\'s Rank...]

[The Player\'s Data will be generated shortly!]

[The Player\'s Data will be summarized due to underlying circumstances.]

...

At that time, the memories from his previous life flooded inside the mind of a 7-year-old Russell as though the information was being forcefully inserted.

At first, he thought that he had "Transmigrated" — that his soul was transferred from his previous life to the body of this young boy named Russell Moon.

But, within him, he strongly believed that he was "Reincarnated". Before he acquired the memories from his previous life the moment he was granted the System, his memories of being born, and being able to talk and walk were all blurred; just like a normal child who couldn\'t remember everything in his childhood.

He also only discovered that he was reincarnated inside his unpublished novel, "The Forgotten Swordsman of Ruined Star" because of the existence of the "Encyclopedia of the Emergence" that was written by Emmanuel Lyncoster.

He got ahold of such a book after a few months since Old Cal had bought them from the certain Marquis from the Cassiopeia, and it was the time since he started to become peculiar in others\' eyes; a kid whose hobby was to read newspapers, news in the internet, and another different kind of books that had something to do with the world such as geography.

The name of the country, Cassiopeia, and the "Red Mark" label for slavery weren\'t enough for him at that time to realize that he was reincarnated in his unpublished novel, but upon realizing that he really was reincarnated inside his own unpublished novel, he knew that there were mysteries hidden to him — simply because he discerned that the moment he discovered that he was living inside his unpublished novel, he became an extra or an anomaly himself.

Russell had experienced working as a slave; being bullied because of the social class he and his parents was under, but... even though that was the case, he felt complete just because he was doing such work with his family; cleaning the barn, feeding the horses, cutting some grass, and anything that a slave stationed in a farm did.

He never lacked money in his previous life, rather, he lacked connections and bonds.

The reason he became a shut-in and gradually developed Social Anxiety in his previous life was that he was humiliated by a woman, his latest partner, at a party with his friends.

The worst part about it was that the woman cheated in front of him at that time; the people he thought of as friends were snakes with fake golden scales who just wanted his money, then the moment they found someone who could satisfy their needs, they quickly changed their circles.

It was ultimately unnecessary.

His supposed-to-be friends could have just not said anything against him; his partner could have just broken up with him before she flirted with another man.

He couldn\'t understand humanity\'s pleasure derived from humiliating someone; he thought that he may be lacking, which gradually declined his self-esteem; he became cautious of what other people thought of him, causing him to barely leave his apartment, which gradually caused him to develop Social Anxiety that he was later diagnosed with.

Social Anxiety was hell... A hell that only exists within one\'s mind — an enemy that was the destroyer of social life.

...

With his mother, father, and younger sister, he began to feel what it was like to have connections and bonds again... And this time, with a familial one.

That\'s why he never thought that having a family in this world was a treasure he could never ask for.

It was for this reason that Russell would do anything to keep his family from harm and catastrophe that would befall the world in the future.

In the same way, it\'s for this reason that he never sought or delved into the "mysteries" of his reincarnation; for him, it wouldn\'t matter compared to having a complete family.

...

Presently, October 18, 2062, just after his birthday passed.

"But it seems like I am being pulled to it, and I can\'t escape it..."

He remembered the circumstances that were out of the story if he based it on his unpublished novel.

The meeting with the Goddess of Night; being entrusted with the mysterious Egg; being Her champion; Samantha\'s Stigma; Amelie and Amery\'s existence; Artorious Hall\'s behavior, and so on.

There were too many that already deviated from what he knew, and he thought that he couldn\'t deny it anymore...

\'That my reincarnation is the number 1 deviation that happened in this world.\'

He wondered if this world would still exist if he was never reincarnated.

Apart from the above-mentioned arguably strong points why he thought that he was "Reincarnated and not "Transmigrated" was because of the System function that only he might know.

Since he discovered that the world he reincarnated to was similar to his unpublished novel, he thought of the significant function in the System that he added on a whim just because he was bored while he was writing at that time.

...

"System, open the Cosmic Question function."

Cosmic Question was the hidden System\'s function that he created in his unpublished novel; it would give him the right to ask the System any questions at least 4 times.

This question and answer could be browsed again by opening the hidden function, and the answer from the System would be thorough.

[A password is needed to access the Hidden Function: Cosmic Question.]

[Speak the password.]

[Password: ???]

"Hmm... I-"

"...Oppa? What are you doing here?"

He almost jumped from the roof upon hearing the voice of his younger sister who was peeking at him from the window of her new bedroom; the two of them had separate, but neighboring bedrooms.

"F-Freya? How long have you been there?"

Russell asked after he composed himself; from lying down, he then sat on the roof.

"I just saw you just now... I also can\'t sleep. Oppa, can I join you there? I like the cold night."

Freya said solemnly; even though Russell didn\'t reply yet, she opened the window of her bedroom and quietly jumped on the roof.

Russell looked at his younger sister, who sat beside him.

"What\'s on your mind...?"

He then asked though he had an idea about it.

"Tsk. Oppa, I know that you know what\'s bothering me."

Freya spoke with the same solemn tone she previously had; her voice seemed to harmonize with the tranquility of the night, and the serenity of the bluish moon that was illuminating this part of the world.

Russell didn\'t reply, instead, he waited for the next words of his younger sister. He felt that his younger sister just needed someone to listen to her.

"To be honest, I\'m scared, Oppa. I don\'t know why, but that time... When I killed one of the guards that were guarding Arthur, I thought that I would throw up; I thought that my heart would beat faster; I thought my breathing would be heavy, but it didn\'t.

"All I thought about was the unfairness of the situation; he might really have the family he was talking about, that\'s why he begged us to spare him, but when he admitted that Arthur ordered them to kill us, he might have never thought that we also have a family that\'s waiting for us.

"I\'m scared... Because I killed someone, but rarely felt sympathy.

"Oppa... I\'m about to turn 16 in two months, I wonder if such a person in my age should have a hand that\'s been tainted by blood.

"It\'s hard for me because I felt cold. I cried at that time because life seems unfair, but it would never be fair, right?"

Freya said solemnly; she hugged her knees as her gaze was cast at the bluish moon that was emanating Mana, causing its illumination to be amplified.

Russell — who noticed his younger sister stopped speaking — fell into deep thought before he softly spoke.

"That\'s what it means to be gray. We are not good people, but we are not bad either; we are hanging in the middle of a scale, and would only lean to the side based on how we are treated.

"It would be the kind of resolve we would need to maintain for the future."

Freya faintly smiled at her older brother\'s words before she spoke in curiosity, and playfully.

"Oppa, you really didn\'t know the future, right? Well, I thought about it for some time.

"Knowing something like the future will surely come at a great cost if it\'s possible.

"You also told us about Victoria\'s Constellation, which has the ability to peek into the future for a few seconds; I and Amelie peeked into her Status Window, and saw that it\'s something that should not be used without a good cause.

"And your Constellation is the Goddess of Night, right? She didn\'t have to do anything with the future based on Her Cosmic Title.

"Well, that\'s just my guess. Heh heh. Don\'t mind me, Oppa."

Russell pondered the words that Freya had spoken, especially regarding the second sentence.

\'Comes at a great cost, huh... When I think about it, the cost of knowing the future would be the lives of the people that would be taken away in the future.

\'By knowing what would happen and not having the capacity to totally stop it would be my punishment.\'

"You really like guessing, huh?"

Russell only spoke those words after some thoughts surfaced in his mind; he didn\'t confirm nor deny the premise that he knew the future.

"Well, Oppa, to be honest, I don\'t care if you know the future or not, or even how you know it. It\'s just that this world is something that\'s full of unknowns.

"I wonder how\'s life before the Emergence happened? Was life in the Old World happy?

"Sigh... Oppa, I feel like I\'m becoming like you when it comes to overthinking."

Freya spoke with superficial solemness in her tone, but deep inside, she was grateful at this moment for everything that had happened.

Russell scoffed at the last sentence of words that came out of his younger sister.

He was just about to reply to her when Freya recalled something.

"Oppa, do you remember the first time we went to the Nether Realm? The headless woman at the top of the spire of her castle helped us go back to the real world by suggesting that I should make a contract with a familiar according to my Unique Skill\'s condition."

Freya randomly said as if she recalled something.

"Yes, I remember, what about it?"

Russell asked in wonder, forgetting what he was about to say earlier.

"Uhmm... About that, Oppa. The headless woman asked for something in exchange for her help."

"Huh...? Help...? Why didn\'t you tell me before? What did she ask for?"

Russell casually asked, just wanting to listen to the seemingly random words of Freya.

"Well, she specifically told me that I should only tell you about it after your birthday... It\'s strange, right? Maybe it\'s a Nether Creature thing. Haha."

Freya laughed as she recalled the abnormality of the behavior and physical appearance of the Nether Creatures.

Russell — who heard about the strange request of the headless woman — pricked up his ears before he asked in a curious tone.

Without waiting for him to respond, Freya told him about the condition or favor that she needed to fulfill in exchange for the help they received at that time.

"Oppa, the headless woman told me that you are the one who would have access to what she wanted, you know.

"Ah! I clearly remember now!

"She said that you should give her something to read, specifically the book titled, The Forgotten Swordsman of the Ruined Star."