"I was pulling gacha, wasn't I? …What happened?"
Supporting himself as he sat up, Qiqiong shook his groggy head. But the sight that greeted him threw his slowly recovering mind straight back into confusion.
Under a black skirt were a pair of long, pale, slender legs. A blue thigh strap hugged the flesh into an absurdly sexy curve—though the one wearing it had apparently put it on a bit too tight.
If it had been on some Valkyrie, Qiqiong wouldn't have minded using his tongue to help adjust the fit.
But this was his leg.
"Holy shit!"
He jolted so hard he practically bounced off the floor.
He spun around warily, looking for the Brother Jie who'd dressed him in a skirt and strapped that thing onto his thigh.
He had barely gotten halfway through scanning the room when, in the reflective glass wall, he caught sight of a face both familiar and strange.
Qiqiong froze for a second, then lifted a hand and scratched his head.
So not only did they put me in a skirt and a thigh strap, they also gave me a wig and colored contacts? What kind of hobby is th—
No.
That wasn't right.
The moment his fingers touched his hair, the soft, smooth sensation—and the very real pull at his scalp—hit him together.
This was real hair.
He immediately stepped forward, eyes widening as he stared hard at his reflection in the glass wall.
There was no trace of makeup on his face, yet not a single blemish or imperfection could be seen. His brilliant golden eyes carried a natural nobility and cool detachment.
"This is… Caelus?"
He'd transmigrated into Caelus?
Then again, his original body had already been turned into "Gojo 2.5" by the truck slash.
[That's right. Just as you can see, that's exactly what happened.]
The sudden voice in his head snapped Qiqiong out of it.
"System? What just happened?"
[Earlier, we were inside your soul-space. Your emotional fluctuations, along with several other factors, woke you up from your unconscious state.]
"I see."
Qiqiong pressed his right hand against the glass wall, palm to palm with his reflection.
He had once suspected that transmigration might just be the final fantasy of a dying mind.
But now…
The metallic instruments that looked like they belonged in a sci-fi film, the room brimming with futuristic aesthetics—people couldn't dream up things they had never seen before.
And the very real texture beneath his hand told him the same thing.
This was reality.
Reality was good.
The life-reel before death had made Qiqiong realize just how dull his previous life had been, like a stagnant puddle of muddy water without a ripple.
He looked himself in the eye through the glass.
Since he'd been given the chance to start over—
then this time, he absolutely would not live by the rules again.
He would indulge himself completely.
He would stir this pool of stagnant life until it churned.
He would never wear a false face again.
The emotion swelling in his heart burst out uncontrollably, and Qiqiong's expression turned almost feverish.
He would ignite his truest self.
He would no longer accept any "freedom" that came bound by restraints.
He would rip off the hypocritical mask he had worn in his previous life.
Spreading the five fingers of his right hand, he covered his face as though trying to seize hold of something.
[Host! Host, what are you doing?!]
The System's panicked voice cut sharply through his rising fervor.
[If you keep this up… that guy will come again!]
The System became instantly alert.
Who was "that guy"?
There was no need to ask.
At Qiqiong's ear rang that clear, reckless, manic laughter.
He lifted his head, and it felt as though his gaze crossed the breadth of space and time itself, landing on a phantom figure surrounded by circus props and orange clown masks.
"Hahahaha~! Aha left, and now Aha's back again! Dear friend, I knew you wouldn't disappoint Aha~!"
This time, it wasn't because of the System, nor because Aha had come on his own initiative.
It was Qiqiong's own will that had resonated with the Path of Elation and drawn Aha here.
At this moment, Qiqiong—no, Caelus—had stepped onto the Path of Elation.
"Let's have even more fun together~!"
The bizarrely laughing orange mask bounced up and down. It looked at Caelus the way one might look at a baby that had cried its heart out, then learned how to laugh afterward.
Which, in a sense, wasn't wrong.
Caelus had only just "been born," after all.
Caelus felt something in the hand pressed tightly against his face—something real, something tangible.
When he lowered his hand, he found that he had actually pulled a mask off his face.
Black base. Gold patterning. The same color scheme as his coat.
"Easy, easy. For the sake of this unlimited monthly pass alone, I'll make you into a white-haired, red-eyed loli sooner or later."
Caelus looked at the mask in his hand, a delighted smile lifting his lips.
A mask bestowed by Aha usually represented an Emanator of Elation. If Caelus hadn't possessed the System, Aha wouldn't have minded granting him that status outright.
But because Caelus did have this bizarre existence called the System, the mask was merely Aha's exclusive Elation weapon for him—something akin to Stelle's baseball bat, flaming lance, or hat.
Besides having a few Elation-type abilities, it was also an unlimited monthly pass for the game, contributing thirty crystals to Caelus every day.
The amount sounded a little small—
but this wasn't a game.
Hearing Caelus's response, the orange mask's grin widened even further.
"Hahahaha! Then Aha shall wait in eager anticipation~!"
Playing tricks on others was certainly delightful—
but if others managed to play tricks on you…
wasn't that an even greater delight?
Unfortunately, it had been a very long time since Aha had experienced the joy of being fooled.
Under the System's catlike vigilance, the orange mask laughed and gradually faded away, along with the gaze fixed upon Caelus.
At the same time, a task window popped up on the System interface.
[Task: Use any method necessary to turn the Aeon of Elation, Aha, into a white-haired, red-eyed loli.]
[Reward: 16,000 crystals.]
[Time Limit: None.]
[Holy shit!?]
That cry of shock didn't come from Caelus.
It came from the System.
The System had never expected that the very first task it generated would be something this catastrophically impossible.
There was no way.
There was absolutely no way anyone could do this.
The moment Caelus saw the reward, his eyes nearly turned red on the spot.
That was a hundred pulls.
A whole hundred pulls.
Of course, the corresponding difficulty was equally absurd. It clearly wasn't something that could be completed this early on.
Dragging his mind back from the temptation of a hundred pulls, Caelus forcibly steadied himself and returned his focus to the present.
"System—gacha!" he shouted.
The System interface popped up in his mind.
[Host, before you pull, I suggest you deal with the skirt and thigh strap first—unless you want your other half to think you're a pervert.]
"My other half?"
Caelus blanked out.
Then, driven by a sudden and powerful intuition, he turned around and looked behind him.
Not far away, a sleeping beauty lay quietly on the floor.
She wore an outfit identical to his. Her gray hair carried a faint dark-gold sheen, falling loose across her slender shoulders like the fur of a gray wolf—both wild and soft at once.
A few strands had slipped into her collar, lying gently against her exposed white collarbone and lending an extra note of languid allure to her already exquisite, faintly aloof face.
She was beautiful.
No.
I was beautiful.
That thought arose naturally in Caelus's mind.
When Stelle wasn't speaking, she was absolutely one of the most beautiful girls in the entire galaxy.
"No—wait."
Pulling himself free from the charm of the galaxy's chaos-goblin Stellaron vessel, Caelus stared in confusion.
If this world already had Caelus, then why was Stelle here too?
Weren't those two supposed to be the same person on different worldlines?
"System. Explain."
[Uh… the full process is a bit complicated. Hard to explain in just a few words. I'd suggest dealing with what's in front of you first.]
The System sounded guilty even to itself.
To distract its host, it hurriedly triggered the task module in the background and generated another mission.
"…"
Caelus understood immediately.
Fine.
Honestly, the current situation wasn't so bad.
"What the hell is this thigh strap made of?"
He yanked hard at the blue strap on his leg, only to find that he couldn't tear it at all. It took a ridiculous amount of effort just to pull the thing off.
As for the skirt…
There were no other clothes.
If he took off the skirt now, was he supposed to run around naked?
Wouldn't that make him look even more like a pervert?
Kicking off the short women's boots from his feet and standing barefoot on the floor, Caelus checked himself in the glass wall and reluctantly decided to leave it alone.
Stelle's skirt was more on the cool, mature side to begin with, and with his absurdly high looks carrying it, it actually came off with a strange sort of style.
At the very least, he didn't look like a creep.
He crouched down in front of Stelle, gently lifting a strand of her soft gray hair as he considered what to do next.
Ding!
The System's task notification sounded again.
Caelus blinked and opened the task interface. The moment he read it, his face darkened.
[System Task: While she's still warm, give it a shot. She's so gorgeous it's hard not to get a little Star-lust.]
[Reward: 30 crystals.]
[Time Limit: 29:59]
"System," Caelus said, utterly aghast, "what the hell kind of task is this? Does this look like something a human being should do?"
[Um, Host…] the System said cautiously.
[The task may have been issued by me, but I can't actually control the content.]
Just as humans couldn't consciously control the flow of their blood or the beating of their hearts, the System couldn't directly control the exact details generated by the task module.
[Tasks are formed from your deepest desires, or flashes of thought, or passing sparks of inspiration… Only commission-type tasks are heavily influenced by outside factors…]
The quiet voice sounded almost like it was trying to remind Caelus of something.
Hearing the explanation, Caelus's expression darkened even further.
"That's absolute nonsense. How could I possibly have thoughts that perverted?"
He made a sharp sweeping motion with one hand—
and then saw the mask in it.
And then remembered his earlier declaration about facing his heart directly and seeing himself clearly.
His righteous momentum stalled at once.
"…Fine. I admit I'm maybe a little narcissistic."
He admitted it frankly—
then immediately changed tone and demanded, "But why is the reward only thirty crystals? Am I worth that little?"
[Uh… task rewards are calculated based on the difficulty of completion, including your own psychological resistance and other such factors…] The System's voice got smaller and smaller.
"Shut up!"
Humiliated into rage, Caelus slapped the mask right over his face.
A righteous aura practically radiated from him, as though he were some tragic hero burdened with the sins of his companions, trudging onward under unbearable weight. With a heavy expression, he sighed in deep anguish.
"A host's life is hard. The System only has to click a few buttons and generate tasks, but the host has to consider so much…"
[That's enough.]
If the System had a humanoid body, it would absolutely be doing the sweating yellow-bean emoji face right now.
Caelus knelt there beside Stelle, staring at the perfect face that combined cool detachment with irresistible allure.
There was no way he was doing this stupid task.
After all, if the plot followed the game, March 7th and Dan Heng should be arriving soon.
So in that case…
Caelus narrowed his golden eyes slightly as he looked at the gray-haired girl.
Because the gray-haired girl who had been lying motionless on the floor—
actually woke up.
She opened her eyes and stared at the people before her in confusion.
The dead—
had really—
come back to life.
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
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