The Villain Can't Catch A Break

In life, people tend not to notice the consequences of their actions until it hits them in the face.

This was one of those moments in Adam's life.

[CALCULATOR] was now working overtime.

Adam thought about the news he had just heard. It seemed that Darkus Maximus moved all of their skeletal knight troop away from imperial territories to stop them from going to waste.

This was bad, really bad.

Originally these skeletal knights would have been activated during the invasion quest line and they would attack their specific territories all at once.

An unmitigated disaster for the empire and many lives were lost. The person who thrived the most from it wasn't the leader of the Darkus Maximus, whose real name is also Maximus, it was the god of war.

It was quite a scum-like move to thrive from constant war in this world but that's how he gains the most causality energy.

Now, if it turns into a frontal confrontation with the Empire then the god of war will thrive even more due to the larger intensity of the frontal confrontation.

Currently, Adam was too weak to even cause any impact on the world, the start of the game, when the academy starts hadn't even taken place yet.

Somehow he had already messed up a lot of the game's storyline.

Adam chose to let these worries go since the outcome of whether this was a good change or a bad change would be seen in the future.

He came into this world to flip the chess board, why wouldn't he ruin the original storyline?

Adam now moved on to the next issue.

He had now become the purple-eyed hero of Brahken, it was obvious why the Duke made this happen, it was to sweeten the deal enough so that Adam wouldn't grow up to hate him.

Becoming a hero here was the worst thing that could have happened to Adam.

It's because when you become a hero, you become a thorn in the path of the villains of this game.

They will give it their all just to hunt you down and kill you.

Darkus Maximus now knew of Adam's existence and that he was the reason for his plan that was decades in the making to fail.

This was bad because the organization despises thorns on their path to world domination, they will do anything to pluck Adam out of this earth and throw him into the black emptiness of the void.

Adam had to get stronger, quicker.

Adam's attention was now brought to an interview that was playing on the television.

It was a familiar old man he had met days prior, to him it felt like yesterday when they crossed paths.

"It is Shawn Hannidy from ENN today we have brought you a very special interview from the man who personally interacted with the purple-eyed hero of Brahken. Tell me, sir, How did you manage to speak to the hero when nobody has been able to catch his attention?"

The old man whom he had last seen wearing ruined clothes as if he was a beggar was now wearing a white tuxedo set with a black tie and black formal shoes.

Adam couldn't comprehend the drastic change in appearance but it seems that a single encounter with Adam had changed his life for the better.

"I was selling my valued martial arts manuals given to me by my ancestors when suddenly ..... "

If Adam could move, he would be supporting his hands on his head at what he was witnessing.

The old man went for half an hour going on and on about his family's rich history, Adam could sense the malice in his eyes as he made the entire audience suffer his made-up family history about the Qilin and the Azure Dragons that were the ancestors of his family.

It was all made up bullsh*t, rambling of a crazy person. As the interview went on Adam started to furrow his brows.

The anchor wasn't stopping the old man, instead, he showed an expression of astonishment and amazement as he heard the old man's story.

Something was seriously wrong but Adam couldn't seem to put his finger on what it was.

Finally, the old man finished with the history of his family.

The anchor then inquired, "Oh you must be from the eastern continent."

'The eastern continent? But there is literally, no such thing called the eastern continent.'

Adam's mind raced as he thought about what the anchor was even talking about.

The map of the game only had the northern western and southern continents.

The eastern part of the map was nothing but an ocean with 2 events about the ocean serpent that is a demi-god who was sealed on earth by the gods a millennium ago.

" Haha yes, I was from the eastern continent. That's where I spent most of my youth but I lived a long and harsh life and ended up selling books in Brahken. I was being removed by the guards when the purple-eyed nobleman..."

If someone says they were born in the eastern continent that would mean that there is an eastern continent that exists.

Adam turned to his left and saw Mia staring at him with a smile shaking her head from side to side.

After noticing Adam staring at her she said," Isn't it wonderful that you are now a hero for the people of Brahken?"

"I didn't do any of what I did for the fame of a hero, it's quite comical that the guy who was dragged to the tower with mana cuffs on him is a hero all of a sudden," Adam said with a coy smile.

"Didn't you say you would let bygones be bygone?"

"I said I would let bygones be bygones, what I didn't say was that I wouldn't make fun of you."

Mia puffed up her cheeks feigning anger and discontentment but inside she felt happy that she and Adam could go back to making jokes with each other again.

"Mia, could you get me a world map real quick?"

"Why do you need a world map?"

"Mainly because I think the mana burning has messed with my memory and I can't remember much about my past or my knowledge of our world."

A perfect excuse, nobody knew what the aftereffects of the mana-burning process were except for insanity or PTSD.

The fact that Adam lived through it means that he could be having side effects that nobody knows.

As we know, Adam didn't have any side effects this was just him lying through his teeth but what does it matter? All that matters is that he gets what he wants.

Mia's expression changed upon hearing what Adam said.

She looked really sad, for some reason her sad face had a charm of its own. If you looked at her you would want to do anything to turn that frown upside down.

It was no wonder the Duke coddled her to no end in the past.

Adam however, was already immune to such beauty.

A pretty girl was a pretty girl, to him they came dime a dozen. All of them wanted a life with him but Adam could never commit to any of them.

Along with riches comes the fear of becoming nothing more than an ATM for the people around you.

How do you know whether someone genuinely likes you?

How do you know someone genuinely cares for you?

You could always just say that your girlfriend has been so good to you and your parents and even makes you food that is the most delicious food you have ever eaten.

But once you have experienced enough betrayals in life even from your parents when you were just a child, trusting anyone for anything becomes an impossible task.

It isn't the fault of the person in front of you trying to win your love and affection.

It is a tragedy of your life that you went through so much that your psyche formed a defense mechanism making you incapable of ever trusting any human being that isn't you.

Besides, Adam was never leading any of the girls he slept with. He made it clear from the start that he had commitment issues and wasn't looking for anything serious.

But for some reason even after making it completely clear, the girls still seemed to want to be in a committed relationship with him.

Adam had a clear motto.

'Marriage is lovely but do you know what's even more lovely? Not losing half your sh*t In a divorce!'

One wrong move and you could lose everything you built your entire life because for some reason your 'wife' doesn't love you anymore.

Adam had already seen too many rich people that had this happen to them. This only made his trust issues even worse.

So what if Mia is an otherworldly beauty? With time beauty fades away and wrinkles.

All that's left in the end to judge someone is the content of their character.

To Adam, the current Mia looked prideful and fickle. A woman that has pride in herself is like a ticking time bomb around you that will burst at any time antagonizing you and then blaming you for every bad thing that happened to them.

Nothing ever seems to be their fault.

Right now, Mia was sad for him and felt guilt.

It wouldn't take a second for her to change her mind and hate him the very next moment.

Adam made a mental note to make as much use of her as long as she felt guilt and as soon as she turned on him, he had to make a plan and cut her off.

While Adam was having a conflict of philosophy in his mind, Mia had already come back with a world map.

Adam couldn't hold it himself since he couldn't move.

Mia held the map for him as he lay on the operating table.

Henrietta seemed to have been in her mental world the entire time.

She wasn't paying attention to anything happening around her but seemed to have red cheeks and a bright smile on her face.

Adam looked at the map.

His eyes almost popped out of his sockets at what he saw.

The entire sea on the eastern side of the map was now a large landmass called the eastern continent.

This was an area Adam had never experienced in the decade that he played this game like a fanatic till its very end.

Nothing like this ever existed in the game.

"How is there an eastern continent?" Adam said in pure shock.

"Of course, there is an eastern continent, Adam, it's been there for over 500 years now."

"What the f*ck?"

"Hey! Adam I get that you're surprised and you don't have your memory but you shouldn't swear that's bad manners."

'B*tch since when the f*ck did I care about manners?'

Adam only thought this to himself not wanting to be nagged by this uptight noblewoman.

Suddenly, Adam was brought out of his state of panic, all thanks to system notifications.

|| THE HOST HAS FOUND A HINT OF THE TRUTH OF THIS WORLD! ||

'Forget about the truth of the world how is there a continent here that never existed in the original game???'

|| SYSTEM TIP: I THINK THE HOST IS KIND OF R*TARDED. ||

'How is that a system tip?'

|| HOST DO YOU THINK THE WORLD STOPS MOVING THE MOMENT YOU DIE? ||

A familiar saying, Adam had last heard from the familiar man in his vision.

|| AFTER YOU DIED THE DEVELOPERS OF THE GAME RELEASED A 2ND VERSION OF THE GAME THAT WAS COMPLETELY A DATING SIMULATOR WHERE IF YOU DON'T MAKE THE KEY HEROINES LOVE YOU AND GROW, THE WORLD ENDS. ||

|| AFTER THE SUCCESS OF THE DATING SIMULATOR THE DEVS THEN MADE A NEW VERSION OF THE GAME THAT YOU PLAY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE REINCARNATION OF THE GODDESS OF DEATH WHO WAS BETRAYED BY THE GODS AND HAD HER POWER USURPED BY THEM, THE NEW STORY WAS TO SAVE THE WORLD AND KILL THE PREVIOUS PROTAGONIST WHO WAS A PUPPET OF THE GODS AND THE GODS THEMSELVES. ||

'Wait just a minute you're telling me I have only played 33% of the entire story? Now there are 2 entirely different games that I have no idea about how they play out?'

|| HOST THE WORLD DIDN'T CHANGE ONE BIT IT'S JUST THAT THE DEVS TOOK TOO LONG TO TRANSLATE THIS WORLD AND ITS STORY INTO GAMES. ||

'Wait a minute doesn't that mean that the games are just a representation of this other world?'

'How will I know about the changes in the story, changes in the game mechanics, and the changes in the ending that take place when the hero and the female anti-hero clash???'

|| SYSTEM TIP: THE HOST IS LIKE A NEWBORN BABY WANTING EVERYTHING TO BE SPOON-FED TO HIM. PLEASE BEHAVE LIKE AN ADULT, THIS IS REAL LIFE NOT A GAME. FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELF. THE SYSTEM ISN'T HERE TO BE YOUR NANNY. ||

Nobody had ever spoken to Adam with such disrespect except his own parents.

The system was right. Adam couldn't interject anything the system had said.

Now that the future was completely unknown to Adam, there were so many variables that Adam had no idea about that Adam chose to just face problems as they came and prepare for every possible scenario in his head with the knowledge he had.

Now the plan was to focus on getting information about the 2nd protagonist and the eastern continent.

All of that could wait until he got into the academy.

It turns out that the entire back story that was given by that old man in the street was probably true.

"Mia, what do you know about the eastern continent?"

"Well I don't know much, we have a treaty with the eastern empire, they use an energy known as qi to make themselves even stronger than aura-based swordmasters, they have pills that can instantly increase all of your stats by 1 permanently, those are really popular with our nobility, oh the bed you're laying on was also made by them mixing their medical expertise with the modern infrastructure of our empire..."

Mia went on and on for hours about all of the things she knew about the empire.

All of this new information was giving Adam a headache, there were so many things that completely changed the dynamic of the world and how it would progress all because of the involvement of the eastern empire.

It seemed that the eastern empire was even stronger than the northern empire that Adam was a part of.

The only thing that held them back from enacting a complete invasion was the existence of dragons and archmages.

|| HOST HAS FOUND OUT MORE ABOUT THE TRUTH OF THIS WORLD! ||

|| NEW STAT 'QI' UNLOCKED! ||

|| THE WILL OF [MONARCH'S AESTHETICA] RESONATES WITH THE 'QI' STAT! ||

|| NEW STAT 'INTENT' UNLOCKED. ||

It's that feeling you get when you play a game you haven't played in a long time, you feel like you can't keep up with all of its new features.

As if the game has left you behind.