Cale breathed in deeply, feeling a little uncomfortable from the stale air of the underground base. The atmosphere around the room felt very heavy, it made him feel sick.

“Would it trouble you to bring me to your inner palace again? This place doesn’t exactly have the best ambience.” Cale asked.

Louis shook his head.

“Not at all, it wouldn’t cost me anything to bring you in as long as you agree to being pulled in.”

Cale nodded, and placed his arms on the table.

“Alright, bring me in.”

He once more felt the tugging at his soul, he immediately accepted the invitation, expecting to find himself in a majestic palace full of eastern dragons. Alas, all he found was a vast and empty space.

“Dai, isn’t this a little different from what I remembered, y’know, more grand and relaxing?” Cale said, annoyed.

“I will permit you to choose the scenery of this place; you are my sole guest after all. It is paramount that you are comfortable enough to deliver me the correct information.” Louis spoke in a booming voice.

“Ah sweet, thanks!”

Cale sensed that his mind was free and unshackled by the bounds of mortality, if he so wanted he could create an entire detailed world from his imagination alone. He smiled, the effects of Louis’ inner palace felt refreshing.

He started thinking about his home far away, but he didn’t want to go back to his 'home'. He missed his family, but he didn’t have any feelings for where his home had once been, as it would merely be an empty shell without his beloved family. He missed Earth as a whole, not just a tiny portion of it.

So he imagined himself in a penthouse room within San Francisco, it perfectly embodied the luxury and beauty of the modern aesthetic. He and Louis now sat in two plush sofas, with a coffee table in front of them. The sweet smell of chamomile wafted throughout the room, and two cups appeared on the table, Starbucks coffee for Cale, and Yorkshire tea for Louis. He added a snack in the form of two plates of cinnamon cake.

“Shouldn’t I be the one serving the drinks? Ah well, if it helps, then suit yourself. I do say, this place has a charm of this own despite not coming close to my imperial palace. It feels more… earthly. Will you leave that glass window without a scenery though?” Louis pointed at the window overlooking the vast void.

‘Right, one of the charms of having a room high up in a building was looking down on the masses below.” Cale thought.

In an instant, the upper part of the vast void turned into the night sky of earth, or at least how Cale remembered it. He did read up a lot on constellations, after all. The sky was unblemished and free of pollution, the moon and stars were left to shine brightly without any smog or haze. To Cale, It was beautiful.

Occasionally, a plane would even zip by, appearing as  a flashing dot within the sky.

He willed towering skyscrapers to rise, some taller than even the highest tower within Acetia, although that was mostly due to Cale buffing them. He wanted to show Louis the glory of his Earthly civilization. A shelf of manga and anime figures suddenly appeared within the penthouse, much to Louis' confusion.

The lights of the other buildings lit up the scenery of the glass window, providing a bright and somewhat enthralling light show for the two. Cars appeared on the streets down below, and despite being far enough not to hear them, the two heard sounds of honking and engines running.

Some jazz played quietly within the background.

The scenery was complete, and it was a work of art.

Louis smiled and nodded, gazing into the skyline, he was even impressed. However, as he observed more closely, he could see some dissonance, the background of the scenery sometimes shifted, buildings changing size, or some of the metal carriages without horses changing shape. The pitch and tone of the ambiance shifted slightly, as if it was unsure of itself.

Unlike him, Cale did not have perfect memory, and he did not remember his world so clearly. As time passed, these memories would fade further and further away. Louis would be saving this setup, though.

He could comment about it, but the two were not here to talk about art, they were here to discuss plans.

“This is certainly a satisfactory scene, are you comfortable enough, Quin?”

Cale took a sip of his coffee, he smiled.

“Yeah, I’m ready to talk now.” He relaxed on his seat, and took a deep breath despite not needing one.

“In our world, we have these machines called computers; I won’t bother you much on the details. They can simulate realities within them, we can observe and interfere, but we can’t exactly enter them. These realities are ‘coded’ or created by people, and other people can observe them from the point of view of one of the ‘characters’, and thus play the reality as if it was a game, well as we see it, it is a game. The amount of freedom the ‘player’ has is dependent on how much the creator allows them to have. Sometimes, there’s only an exact path to take.”

Louis’ eyes widened.

“That’s… an impressive feat for mere mortals with no cultivation.”

Cale let out a short laugh.

“It wouldn’t be as impressive if you knew how it worked.”

“All things aren’t as impressive if you knew how they worked, young one.” Louis stated.

Cale nodded in agreement, before continuing.

 “As you may have guessed, the otome game I’m speaking of is one of these simulated realities. The people of my world call it “Unconquered Hearts”, cheesy name, I know. I’m no expert on it, and all I’m about to say merely comes from Nana. But in short, this entire world is similar, almost exactly the same to the world within the game.”

Louis took a sip of his tea to calm himself down at the revelation, then asked:

“So, you mean to say, this whole world we’re inside right now… it’s all simulated within one of those “computers”?”

Cale held both of his palms up in the air, shaking them fiercely.

“No, I wouldn’t go that far, there are a lot of striking similarities, such as the fundamental concept of magic and soul weapons. But, we four don’t exist or aren’t even mentioned in the storyline, so it’s not like this world we’re in is a carbon copy of the game.”

He paused, giving Louis time to respond.

‘It could be that we were created to think that way…’ Louis thought, but he decided there was no use in pondering such a useless question.

Cale continued without any interruptions.

“Anyways, dropping that bombshell, the events of the game will happen within 2 years, the ‘player’ would be a commoner girl with blonde hair and yellow eyes that came from a family of peasants that wanted to be mages. She has a biological mutation that enables her to channel magic directly into her body with no repercussions; it would be obvious that a lot of powerful people would be vying for her. The game makes some of these people ‘capture targets’, in which the goal of the player is to romance them. It’s actually quite grimdark compared to its contemporaries. Providing the experience of a more “realist” noble society rather than the bubbly and happy ones other games-“

Louis coughed.

“There I go ranting again, huh. Anyways, one of said capture targets happen to be Louis de Leon. He’s a fan favorite since he’s the only male lead who wasn’t chasing after the player because of their unique condition.”

At Cale’s words, Louis raised an eyebrow.

“Me? I am not interested in young girls whatsoever, nor am I a hopeless romantic willing to fall into a relationship with no benefits.”

Cale scratched the top of his head, and then pressed his fingers against his forehead.

“Hah, the de Leon family has only one son and one daughter in the game. Meaning the one i'm talking about only bears the name “Louis”, they would give the name to their first child anyways, it just happened to be you.”

Louis crossed his arms.

“The de Leon family has 3 sons however, what are you implying…?”

Cale took a bite of his cake, talking in a clear voice despite having his “mouth” full.

“Yes, it is likely that there is another reincarnator within your family, or at least a son that was the cause of a ripple effect from one. You should probably check this piece of lore and compare it with your family history. Nana could give you a more detailed version.” Cale produced multiple pieces of paper and gave them all to Louis.

He gave the papers a passing glance, and he found nothing odd, but he would further investigate the de Leon family after this meeting.

“What is the personality of the Louis within the game?” He asked.

“Well, a hardworking and charming man who tries hard to live up to the glory of his father… practically the ‘perfect’ type of guy.”  Cale answered.

Louis nodded, Carlos matched that description the most, therefore Carlos was supposedly the original Louis.

“Right, so have you found the ‘player’? If we manage to get our hands on them we could have control of the events within this “game”. Since from what you say I assume their choices would have quite significant effects.”

Cale’s face scrunched up.

“That’s our problem. We’ve searched both Invicta and Elvus Dominica for any clues about her, but we got nothing, not even her family members. They either live in a very remote area or outside the borders of the two countries. There is also the scary possibility...”

“Scary possibility? Do elaborate on what possibility is so frightening that you would be worried even with me on your side.” Louis asked.

“The player has a power to ‘save and load’, she can save at any point in time and load back to said time at any point if she makes a mistake. I am afraid we had already found her but she merely just loaded to before the moment we found her and acted accordingly. Usually, I wouldn’t worry as much since such ability doesn’t relate to the plot… but in the case of Unconquered Heart… it does.’ Cale said in a worried tone.

“If there is a shift in the laws of time, I will know. So far there have been none.” Louis sighed, it was annoying to fight enemies with such power, but never unmanageable.

“Anzhel said that too, but I’m still a bit worried. Anyways, I hope you can use your connections to help us with the endeavor of finding the ‘player’”  Cale said, chuckling lightly.

“You wish for my cooperation? Well, you haven’t presented any concrete evidence if this game is all true or not. As of now I’m only entertaining you since you are a fellow reincarnator. At least tell me more about the so called ‘plot’ of the otome game.”

Cale shrugged, and took another bite of his cake.

“You don’t have to anyways, since it will prove itself soon. The school has a field trip a few months from now and the crown prince ends up angering an elder dragon in some ancient ruins he and Aubrey came across. This causes an invasion of the Leon province by the dragons and an eventual attack by the elder dragon directly on the capital. That exact elder dragon…” Louis took out two pieces of paper, one with a hand-drawn illustration of a threatening dragon, another a picture of a Draconic head the size of the mountain. It looked as if the illustration was trying to imitate the dragon.

“Is the exact one we happened upon in the hole Anzhel dug.”

Louis took another sip of tea, enjoying the rather satisfactory taste.

“So, you mean to say the adult dragon that was spotted in the Leon province was a result of triggering this event early on?”

Cale smiled.

“Bingo! Oh right you don’t have that in Xianxia, ughh, Auction house?”

Louis shook his head in disappointment.

‘Alright, alright, geez, you can’t take a joke, it is. However, the attack force was much smaller since the elder dragon was much more careful, its only after us… so It might just target the academy within this month. It would probably consist of an all-out attack since dragons can teleport if they have even a slither of intelligence. He has a blood sample of Nana… so… we have to be wary.”

“That Nanami girl, she has two soul weapons, she knows about the otome game and now she presumably survived a hit by an elder dragon. What exactly is she?” Louis asked in curiosity.

“Sorry, can’t tell you, I respect her privacy, so you better ask her.” Cale quickly answered.

‘It’s quite a sensitive topic, I doubt she would answer, I suppose I’ll deal with the dragon first to earn their trust.’

“Right, so our current objectives are finding the ‘player’ and dealing with an elder dragon right? Seems clear to me, if what you say is true, then I’ll have to find out more about the ‘plot’ of this otame game. In any case, I can see why having power available for use publicly would be useful in this situation.” Louis nodded, satisfied.

He finished drinking his tea, only to realize he had neglected the cake.

Cale had already finished his cake on the other hand, and clapped his hands.

“Alright! That’s all I have to tell you for now, I think some of these details should be privy to Frank, don’t you agree, Dai?”

“Hmm, I suppose he should be in on this considering he could be a useful asset.”

Cale let out a loud sigh, and sunk onto the sofa.

“This world is both good and bad for my mental health.”

The two shared a moment of silence, to which Louis finally took a bite of the cinnamon cake. He found the taste unique, and asked Cale for a recipe to add to his repertoire. Li’er’s hobby of cooking had grown on him over the years, and he endeavored to collect different types of food as well.

“Hey Dai, since you’re a cultivator and probably are comprehending the dao and all. Why do you think this world and our respective worlds are so different?” Cale asked nonchalantly.

‘It’s the laws of the world.” Louis responded.

“Laws? Well that’s kind of obvious isn’t it?”

“It is, but the observation is quite profound. You see, laws are the fundamentals to how the world is governed, but these don’t only extend to how the world reacts to those who try to influence it, but also on how the living beings of the world act. For example, the laws of the world  may allow us to paint a beautiful picture in one world, but it may not in another. The laws are absolute, and even I have to comprehend and act according to said laws.” Louis spoke.

“Well you don’t hear stuff like that when discussing the dao every day.” Cale spoke sarcastically.

“I don’t know what the books in your world say but its common knowledge to us that you can’t bend the law of the world to your will. It’s what keeps stability.”

Cale gazed at the stars he had created, a melancholic look surfaced on his face.

“What if the laws of the world dictate us to act in a certain way? What if our conversation hear is merely a set dialogue between two characters written by the laws of the world.”

Louis laughed, biting into a piece of cake.

“And why would that matter?

Cale looked at him in astonishment.

“Do you not value being in control of your actions?”

“I feel like what I’m doing is something I should be doing, so there isn’t any problem. Besides, even if the laws of the world predetermine our every move, at least it thought well enough to give us a conversation as deep and well-thought out as this one.” Louis smiled, staring into the skyscrapers Cale had brought into his inner palace, he quite liked the design.

Cale laughed as if he was relieved of a heavy burden.

“You know, between yours and Llamiryl’s answer, I prefer yours.”

Louis showed him a look of interest.

“Llamiryl’s answer? I am very curious to what that girl would think of in a situation like this.”

“Well, it’s all the same anyways, people live, breathe, and die. So why would that matter?” Cale tried to do his best imitation of Llamiryl’s voice, he even had momentarily switched his form into her.

Louis grinned, showing his jade white teeth.

“I think her answer is just as good as mine, honestly.”

“I know, but I prefer being optimistic about things. She’s basically saying it all doesn’t matter.” Cale threw out his hands.

“If you wish to be optimistic, you can create your own comprehension of it. If it’s not too different then why should we worry about it so much?”

Cale waved his hand, putting two cups of wine on the table, one was made of glass, the other of pure jade.

“Thank you Dai, in cultivator terms, I’ve gained enlightenment from this conversation.” Cale raised his cup of wine.

“Like-wise.” Louis raised his, returning Cale’s gesture.

“May as well end this with a bang.”

The night sky full of stars was filled with colorful splashes of different colors. The loud noise they made when they burst out of the firmament produced a festive and cheery mood.

The small world was lit up, shedding light on the faces of its two occupants.

“Cheers.” Cale said.

“Cheers.” Louis responded.

The jade cup and glass cup clanged together.