4, October, Year 2021

19:00, No Good Apartment

 

Wow!

I could only shout that after reading the story.

As per tradition, after I asked her for a follow-up question, she converted from the anonymous question form to chat. She went by the username: DefinitelyNotACat.

Wait!

Are you a cat or not?

Be more decisive about it!

...

Anyway!

Like other Chuunibyous fellows in the chat, her story was full of cryptic comparison and imaginable things. And not only that. There was always nya in her every sentence.

Like, literally.

Reading her story almost makes me follow along with her myself nya~.

Cough… Cough...

But as a (self-proclaimed) sage, I cannot let this problem affect me at all. I have already played with two Chuunibyous after all. What is wrong if there is one more that wants to be a catgirl?

Sigh…

The path to a famous Vtuber is still a long way from me, I guess…

Anyway, let’s analyze her story.

Because of the complexity of the “nya” I have to translate this story back to the normal one first.

So it seems that DefinitelyNotACat, in her story at least, was a catgirl in a village hidden in the near the mountain. Now, they get invaded by a bad guy from a bear village. There was even some element of betrayal here and there because of a conflicting viewpoint.

Now she was hiding away in a cave, wanting to make a breakthrough so she could fight with the bad guy.

…

Hmm...

This is some generic power-up arc in a novel/anime/manga/movie, isn’t it?

The protagonist’s village got attacked by an antagonist. When battling with them, they found out that they were not the antagonist’s opponent at all. So, they had to escape. They got chased until they fell off the cliff.

But, instead of dying, they survived and, somehow, found something inside a hidden cave. The MC(Main Character) then power-up and went back to steamroll the bad guy….

If you want more, just rinse and repeat this as many times as you want. And you will find yourself at an unimaginable word count or chapters in no time.

...

It seems like I just expose the dark side of the entertainment world…

...Anyway.

With that, I feel as if I could understand this girl completely now.

At least 80% for sure…

Why not 90%...?

Well… I still don’t understand the catgirl part, after all.

Why a catgirl anyway nya~?

...

So...

What are the tools that use to power up MC?

There are many ways. For example it could be a secret herb, a legendary item, a mentor, a hidden skill, or even sometimes just pure plot armor.

It seems like DefinitelyNotACat also wants to be the protagonist in her own little story. And when she has found a sage Vtuber like me, she starts her plan.

The power-up arc!

Seeing that she has asked me to help her. She probably wants a scenario of an old grandpa helping her. (Also, he is secretly one of the most powerful beings in the universe, yet somehow got trapped in the cave helplessly. But that part will probably be covered in the later chapters.)

And this 12,000 years-old sage like sage Khun is such a perfect target for her.

Fine.

I will play with you.

I will be your power-up grandpa.

So now that I know her attention, all that left is what new power she wants. Is it just simply anything?

I doubt so. Why would she include the segment of that manual otherwise?

From the story so far, the power she wants probably relates to the way to kill the “undying”. She even hints at it in the introduction of the manual she sent.

The power she wants, and the way to achieve it, is probably hidden somewhere in those sentences.

I give another quick look at those sentences once more.

They are generic killing stuff…

Hmm… Wait!

When I read it again, I actually find something. There is really something hidden in there! The hint is so strong that it sticks out like a sore thumb.

So... she wants that, huh?

THAT THING!?

Really?

F… Fine…

If you want it, I will deliver it to you…. No matter how embarrassing it is.

Just don’t laugh too much, okay?

 

 

---

4, Month Fall-Amberine, Year 2763 B.A.

04:20, Demon Mountain Range

 

Isabella looked at the artifact in front of her in wonder. It was normal. After all, she couldn’t sense any magic from it at all, yet it operated perfectly. This meant that there was something higher than her understanding powering this tablet.

The law of the world.

The law of the world… It was something only a true sage could utilize.

She looked at the tablet with respect. Only a perfect circle level mage like her knew how hard it could be to become a sage.

Unlike the previous levels, the path to become a sage wasn’t a simple thing as gathering more magic power. The perfect circle was already the maximum level that a mortal body could achieve.

So how could one become stronger after that?

It was to use the power of the world.

By tapping into the law of the world, it allowed sages to use the boundless power of the universe. They could even bend the world to their will.

Anything they wanted, it could be done as easily as breathing.

Killing a mortal, even if a perfect circle level mage, would be simply as if flipping one’s hand.

But why did this thing, an object from a true sage, appear here?

As an assassin, Isabella already scanned this cave—twice—before she rested in it. And needlessly to say, there was no tablet lying here before at all. This meant that this artifact appeared the moment she prayed for help. Does he want to help me?, thought Isabella. But she couldn’t be too sure. She could never understand the enigmatic thinking of such a powerful being like him at all.

That was why she observed it first. She looked as the sage answered the questions from his followers with his unfathomable insight. Some of the questions were related to magic, some were not.

Isabella couldn’t help but become more and more impressed with him. She thought about sending her own question next, but she stopped. She felt that it wouldn't be appropriate for her to send a question.

This seemed like a gathering of his close followers, and she was just a first-timer there.

She did try to send the question, of course. The voice-typing accepted her words with only some slight problem.

It didn’t translate her language very well. It was as if this tablet didn’t have the enhancement to deal with a beastman’s language. So her “text” became slightly broken with her cat speech.

As she had seen so far, all other followers seemed to be human. This was also another fact that dissuaded Isabella from sending her question.

But everything could change and so was her intention...

“I will accept one last question from you. Those that already asked please refrain from doing again if possible.”

This was the thing that broke her intent.

As he was about to wrap up his session, sage Khun’s said that. His eyes were looking straight at no one in particular. But Isabella assumed that he was probably looking at her.

He wanted her to ask a question.

That was why she sent her question, even with the broken sentence it had.

Sage Khun seemed a little surprised at first, but he was pretty receptive. He didn’t criticize her language much. He even asked for her story to get a background from her.

As this seemed like it would take time to describe, Isabella created an account to chat directly in the chatroom as his other followers. She used some random name as DefinitelyNotACat as her username. This was to make him understand that she wasn’t actually making fun of him with her broken speech.

After she had sent the question, sage Khun and his followers all read it quietly. No one was saying anything in the chat anymore. It was as if there were waiting for sage Khun to answer first.

Only some time had passed did sage Khun sighed once before he continued to answer her.

“I came to understand your situation now.” said the sage impassively. “I also took a look at the manual that you had sent. It is very interesting indeed.”

“Yes, sage.” Isabella said while nodding her head. As the figure was hard to describe, she could only send the text to sage Khun. But even with little as that, it seemed to make a point across with him already.

“The key to solving all the mystery of this manual lies in those sentences!”

“…!” Isabella gasped. While she was thinking that was probably the case, hearing the confirmation from a sage was still shocking for her.

“But how do we solve it, sage?” she asked.

“To understand it, we have to understand the thought of the one writing it first.” sage Khun didn’t answer directly but continue with his reasoning first.

“Yes.” Isabella agreed.

“The writer probably doesn’t want anyone to know their real intent.” sage Khun shook his head slightly. “The truth is, there is only one true sentence in all of this.”

“Only one?” Isabella repeated sage Khun’s word in surprise.

“Yes.” he nodded. He then continued. “The other was just a camouflage for the writer’s intent.”

“What is it, sage? The hidden meaning of it.” Isabella couldn’t agree more with his words. This was what she was thinking the whole time. She just didn’t get there yet. But sage Khun simply read it for a few minutes and he already solved it… Such insight…, Isabella thought to herself.

“It is the first word of every line.”

“The first word…!?”

“Yes. All the first words of each lines actually form a single sentence together. The writer hides their intent with this trick.”

“…!” Isabella gasped again, louder than before. She wanted to look at the manual now to know the answer, but she also didn’t want to miss his next word. Luckily for her, sage Khun continued a little after that as if he knew her thought.

“The hidden intent of this manual…. The hidden meaning of the writer is about the law of the world…” he continued while shaking his head slightly.

“The law of the world…?”

“Yes, and it is...” sage Khun paused slightly as if to gather his own thought. But that was only served to make Isabella more hopeful toward his next word.

“It is…?” Isabella repeated absentmindedly. Her cat ears perked slightly, focusing on the sound that came next.

“People die if they are killed. ” he continued coolly. His face was covered in the hood, but his golden eyes radiated with profound wisdom.