This reflection Axel saw was far from his actual body. His hazel eyes changed to crimson almost as the colour of blood. His hair was no longer short or mocha brown in colour but long inky black. His body shape changed as well, with a slim waist and a beige skin tone. He was baffled at this but recalled reading about these physical features somewhere, even though he couldn't think where... Surprisingly, his thick glasses were also gone and his vision had become crystal clear without them. His baggy sweater and loose shorts were now replaced with old fashioned pyjamas.
ย "Whoever this body belongs to, they've got a serious problem with the dressing sense...Wait! did I travel back in time or something?!"- He kept pondering about such questions even though he was well aware he wasn't going to be revealed to the answers just yet. Now severely stressed, with an emotional trauma, Axel decided to wander the little cottage for clues before stepping out. The cottage was indeed small but it had a plenty of things. A rusty stove on the right corner, some plants by the window, a seating area with two hay sacks, making it evident that the person was not very wealthy. A wardrobe was there as well, patterned with different designs as well as a huge shelf stacked with books on the left most corner. "This man is probably a bookworm like me." A soft smile greeted his face as he noticed the intricate designs which looked handmade with paint. "An artist too?" he thought in delight.
As he kept wandering the cottage, Axel stumbled upon a thick diary placed near the lampstand. "A personal diary? BINGO! This is what I was looking for! It probably contains some clues about this place and who this mysterious person is." - he thought as he opened the diary for a read. As he flipped the first page, the name of the owner made his hair stand on end. "This diary belongs to Odion" it read. This huge discovery left a chill in his spine. Subconsciously dropping the book, Axel sat on the edge of the bed in panic. "Odion...Odion..." he chanted, then suddenly perhaps out of frustration, he shrieked at the top of his lungs-"IT'S THE FREAKING DUMB ODION FROM THE DUKE'S BETRAYAL!" He began questioning his whole existence!
All the clues led to one conclusion only, Axel Blair's supposed soul had been transmigrated into the novel's protagonist, Odion Auburt! This had to be a dream, he tried to convince himself desperately. "The novel was cursed! It sucked me into it...or worse, IT CURSED ME AS WELL SO THAT MY SOUL WOULD NEVER REST"- different thoughts clashed his mind at the same time. "I can't believe this...I'm O-Odion." Just as these words left his tongue, a yellow scientific window appeared before him almost giving him a heart attack. It said in a sharp AI tone- "๐๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต <๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ>" He shrieked again,... But this time tried to calm down and rethink this whole statement he had been exposed to suddenly... Axel was a brilliant bibliophile so he tried to remember what happens in most transmigration novels.
After much consideration, he said in a relaxed tone- "So you must be the system right? The very same system who traps innocent readers and forces them to play these absurd simulation games AND if they don't collect enough points or complete the quests, their soul withers, am I RIGHT?! the system said in an eerie AI tone again- "๐๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต. ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ ๐๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ด: 5. ๐๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ ๐๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ด. ๐๐ง ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ช๐ง ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐย ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ 0, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ, ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ." Axel stared at the system with murderous intent because of its unprecedented blackmailing.
He drank some water to cool himself and sat down again. "So...System, What's my next mission then?" The system's response was quite damning. "๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ: ๐๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ'๐ด ๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ถ๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ถ๐ฌ๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ. ๐๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ'๐ด ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด." "Grand Duke huh... that rich bastard with the most annoying attitude? You are telling me, that I must get on his good side? DAMN YOU SYSTEM!" The system no longer responded to his tantrums and vanished into thin air.