The new world's sun hung low, a blood-orange eye glaring at Alex through smog-choked skies. They stood in what used to be their hometown—now a dystopian LitRPG hellscape. Storefronts pulsed with health bars, alleyways crawled with loot-goblin NPCs, and the air reeked of burnt coffee and corrupted code.
"Home sweet hellhole," Alex muttered, kicking a soda can labeled [Mana Potion: Cherry Flavor].
Kairo's scar flickered, his gaze locked on the skeletal remains of the public library. Its neon sign buzzed:
[Safe Zone: Beta Reader's Domain]
Enter at Your Own Risk.
"The sapling wasn't lying," Kairo said. "Your librarian's the beta reader."
Alex's cybernetic arm crackled. "Ms. Harlow? She once fined me for dog-earing a book. Of course she's a villain."
***
System Alert:
New Quest: [Rewrite the Canon]
Objective: Confront the Beta Reader.
Reward: [Plot Armor – Tier 2] (Temporary)
Warning: [Overdue Fees] apply.
***
The library's doors creaked open. Dusty sunlight slashed through the gloom, illuminating rows of decaying books and a figure hunched over a mahogany desk.
Ms. Harlow hadn't aged a day. Same wire-rim glasses, same bun tighter than a plot hole. But her eyes glowed with fractal malice, and her cardigan was stitched from live text.
Name: The Beta Reader
Trope: [Perfectionist Tyrant]
Weakness: [Imperfection]
"Alexandra Veyra," she said, voice like a shushing hurricane. "You've overdue potential."
Alex's dagger materialized. "What'd you do to the town?"
"Corrected it." Ms. Harlow snapped her fingers.
The shelves screamed. Books morphed into monsters—paper-mache dragons, ink-blob slimes, and a particularly nasty Thesaurus Rex.
***
The Beta Reader's first attack was a barrage of red pen projectiles.
[Alex's HP: 85% → 72%]
Debuff: [Syntax Error] – Movement speed reduced by 30%.
"You fight like a first draft," Ms. Harlow sneered, adjusting her glasses. "All passion, no polish."
Alex ducked behind a collapsing shelf. "Got any ideas, Kairo?"
"One." He tossed a grenade labeled [Run-on Sentence]. "Distract her."
The explosion sprayed semicolons and adverbs. Ms. Harlow recoiled. "Vulgar!"
***
The Beta Reader opened a ledger—Alex's POV: Draft #1. She slashed her pen, rewriting reality:
- Erased Kairo's scar.
- Replaced Alex's cybernetic arm.
- Replaced the library with a coffee shop AU.
Alex stumbled, flesh-and-blood hand trembling. "You can't… this isn't your story!"
"No," Ms. Harlow said. "It's better."
Kairo, now a barista NPC, offered a latte. "Would you like trauma with that?"
Alex punched him. He glitched back.
***
Alex grabbed a burning page from The Hollows of Eden. Their oldest novel. Their worst.
"You want polish?" they snarled. "Let me edit this!"
They smeared ash on the Beta Reader's ledger, scribbling over her "corrections":
- Crossed out "Kairo dies tragically".
- Wrote "The librarian gets a overdue notice" in the margins.
- Drew a stick-figure dragon in the corner.
The ledger screamed. Ms. Harlow's glasses cracked.
Achievement Unlocked: [Creative Anarchy]
Reward: [Plot Armor – Tier 2 Activated].
***
Ms. Harlow lunged, pen aimed at Alex's heart. "You'll never be literary!"
Alex grabbed her wrist. "And you'll never be fun."
They snapped the pen. The library burned, then imploded, shelves collapsing into a black hole of footnotes.
[System Alert]
Quest Complete! Overdue Fees Waived.
Reward: [Beta Reader's Glasses] – Spot plot holes in real-time!
***
Outside, the town flickered—half-dystopia, half-memory. Kairo's scar returned, jagged and bright.
"Where now?" he asked.
Alex adjusted the glasses, watching the horizon glitch. "Wherever the Storyweaver's hiding."
A line of text burned in the air:
To Be Continued…