"…?"
For a moment, I felt like my mind went completely blank.
Logically, a pseudonym like this should be banned, I thought. But it didn't
take long to realize how foolish that thought was.
'…No one would even think of using this as a pseudonym.'
There was no need to ban it in the first place.
"Cancel, restart, reset…"
In my haste, I blurted out commands randomly.
"Start over, restart…"
But there was no chance to reset the pseudonym. I had no choice but to go
with it.
[ Entering the virtual society in earnest. ]
[ The virtual society is based on a massive illusion system. ]
[ Please release your resistance to illusions. ]
Whooosh…
As I released all resistance, my mind began to drift, and I felt as if my soul
was leaving my body.
'The Black Tower sure has a fascination with illusions.'
Even Teddy's desperate struggle to invoke the Celestial Realm was based
on illusions.
This virtual society seemed to be another massive illusion-based world.
And the one who probably created this…
'The former Black Tower Master.'
After gathering information here, I decided to meet the former Black Tower
Master immediately. They must have all sorts of useful information.
Soon after, my soul landed in some sort of waiting room.
[ This is the virtual society, 'Black World.' ]
[ Black World is assessing your constitution. ]
─Constitution: Lower-level magician.
"Lower-level?"
I muttered in disbelief.
Was it because my constitution was so complex? The Black World system
seemed to have simply classified me as a chaotic, lower-level magician.
[ Your constitution is abnormal. ]
[ An error has been detected…]
[ Correcting to a standard constitution. ]
Now I was being treated as an outright error. How depressing.
[ Please enter an invitation code if you have one. ]
Oh, I did have an invitation code.
─Master, here's the invitation code I'm giving you.
─You must enter it! Absolutely! Absolutely!
As I infused mana, the code was automatically entered.
[ Verified. ]
[ You and your inviter have each earned 100 points. ]
"Points?"
Why were there points?
But the next moment, I got my answer.
[ Choose a Job ]
1. Warrior (10 points)
2. Archer (10 points)
3. Bard (30 points)
4…
[ Choose Appearance ]
1. Sharp Nose (50 points)
2. Sleek Eyes (50 points)
3. Full Lips (50 points)
[ Choose Race ]
1. Human (10 points)
2. Demon (10 points)
3. Elf (10 points)
4…
[ Please complete your selections within 10 minutes. ]
'This is like being reborn from scratch.'
True to the intent of a virtual society, in this Black World, you could
customize every aspect of yourself.
Job, appearance, race… But each choice consumed points. The more
impressive your appearance and job, the more points it required.
So, once again, I had to ponder my choices.
'What would be the best choice?'
My purpose for visiting this place was to gather information.
…Yes, the goal was to blend in among the magicians enjoying the Black
World and gather information.
Having already made the unprecedented choice of adopting the Emperor's
name as a pseudonym, I needed to choose my job and appearance carefully
to make it easier to ask questions naturally.
"Sigh."
It was truly a dilemma.
If I chose an appearance I liked, the job was too unimpressive. If I picked a
decent job, the appearance was somewhat unattractive… Balancing them
was genuinely tricky.
Then, at some point.
[ 10 minutes have elapsed. ]
[ Your persona will be generated randomly. ]
"Huh?"
With a flash of white light, my mind went blank.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
When I opened my eyes, I found myself inside a room with a mirror.
"…?"
The first thing I did was check my appearance.
"…Why do I look so average?"
Average height, a face that wasn't ugly but not handsome either—this was
my persona in the Black World.
As I marveled at the precision of this illusion magic.
"Ah, Master!"
Someone called out to me.
When I turned around, I saw a girl who had appeared, having opened the
door at some point, looking incredibly flashy.
Pink hair, flamboyant makeup, star-shaped stickers under her eyes, and a
sparkling outfit…
"It's me, your disciple Seina. When the invitee logs in, I get a notification,
so I came right away!"
"…What's with that look?"
"Ah, this…"
Seina scratched her head awkwardly.
"Actually, I dreamed of becoming a singer. Since this is a virtual society,
not reality, I'm living out that dream here… Haha…"
She finished speaking, her eyes sparkling.
"So, Master, what's your job?"
"My job is…"
I quietly checked here and there.
I was curious myself about what my job was. Since I didn't choose in time,
it had been assigned randomly.
[ Your job: Idler ]
An idler… Even in the virtual society…
"It says idler?"
"…Huh?"
Seina's shoulders trembled slightly.
"What's wrong?"
"Uh… Huh… An idler? Why an idler…?"
Seina seemed quite troubled.
"A job as an idler is kind of… how should I put it…? It gives off a very lazy
and slovenly impression."
"I didn't choose in time, so this is what I got."
"You said you wanted to gather fresh information from the other towers,
excluding the Imperial Tower, right? With a job like an idler, people might
not even bother interacting with you."
She let out a deep sigh.
"Ugh… I was expecting a job like a manager. The famous singer, me, and
my ordinary manager master, a forbidden, thrilling romance…"
"…?"
What kind of roleplay was she dreaming of?
"Anyway, this is also a place where people interact. Those with cool
appearances or good jobs are really popular."
Seina examined my face closely.
"This persona is much less handsome than the original you, Master… What
about skills? What skills do you have?"
I searched through the notification window to check my skills.
There were exactly three.
"Playing, Sleeping, Resting."
"…?"
Seina gulped. She looked at me like she was staring at something hopeless.
"…No other skills?"
"None."
"Oh…"
That short exclamation carried a lot of weight. She looked as if she had
never seen a persona this hopeless before.
Then Seina shook her head vigorously.
"It's okay, Master. I'll guide you properly here. I'm a pretty famous singer
in this world. You wouldn't believe how many people like me here."
"Really?"
"Of course! I've invested so much time in this virtual world. I tweak my
appearance to look pretty every time─"
"…Alright, alright."
Listening to her, it seemed Seina was quite lonely.
She was the only young one in the Blue Tower, so she had no friends, and
being in a senior position, she always had to act seriously, and was so busy
that she never had time to go out and have fun…
So she ended up spending all her free time in this virtual world at her
dormitory, it seemed.
"Shall we start by looking around?"
"Let's do that."
As I walked around with Seina, what surprised me was the sheer number of
personas within the 'Black World.' It was far more than I had imagined.
There were those gathered to gamble, others discussing something like
adventurers… It was truly a world of its own.
"Everyone seems to be having a good time together."
"Because it's comfortable here."
Seina smiled brightly.
"It's much simpler than training in reality, and you can change your
appearance as much as you want if you have enough points… That's why
it's so popular. The Black Tower makes a huge amount of money from this
every year."
After we had circled the entire village.
Curiosity filled Seina's eyes.
"Oh, right. What's your pseudonym, Master?"
"…Pseudonym?"
"Yes, your pseudonym. Let's add each other as friends!"
She looked at me with sparkling eyes.
Honestly, I hadn't planned to log in again after gathering the information,
but Seina seemed to believe I'd continue to enjoy the Black World with her.
[ Seina has sent you a friend request. ]
[Accept.]
And shortly after.
"So, Master, your pseudonym is~"
Seina suddenly froze.
"Uh…"
Her blue eyes slowly widened.
"Huh? Huhuhuhuhuhu…"
Eventually, her face turned pale as a corpse.
A long while later, after Seina had calmed down.
We moved to some kind of training ground.
"Master, why in the world…?"
Seina muttered with a dazed expression.
"You can change your job or appearance later if you use double the points.
But you can't change your pseudonym… Why in the world did you choose
that…?"
She seemed to be gripped by a certain fear, her chin trembling as she
chattered her teeth.
"It's a miracle you haven't been permanently banned already! A job as an
idler and a nickname as His Majesty the Emperor… Even the worst
personas in the Black World wouldn't go that far."
Seina's explanation was simple.
As expected of a society run by anonymous personas, it seemed there were
troublemakers, but they were permanently banned as soon as the
administrators caught them.
"Ughhhh…"
Seina held her aching head and let out a deep sigh, then pointed to a
wooden training dummy.
"Master, this is really the only way now."
"What way?"
"This dummy records the damage you deal to it, and there's a real-time
ranking. If you don't stand out using this, you'll get kicked out no matter
where you go."
Sure enough, there was something like a ranking board.
[ 1st place, Mountain and Wind 103,403 ]
[ 2nd place, Fire Fire 99,343 ]
[ 3rd place…]
"Your score is based on the highest damage out of three hits, so let's treat
the first one as practice. Just use your magic lightly."
"Alright."
I casually generated some ice.
The process was incredibly smooth.
'Is it because my constitution was normalized?'
Unlike in reality, there was no sense of resistance.
The ice spear flew effortlessly and struck the dummy.
And then.
Twaaaaaaaackkkkkk!
The dummy was completely shattered.
Boom! Thwaaaaaaaaaackkkkkk!
Not just the target dummy, but the ice scattered everywhere, smashing
everything nearby.
"…?"
"…?"
We both stared blankly at the scene.
[ The damage ranking has been updated. ]
[ Congratulations. You are now ranked 1st overall. ]
"…It says I'm 1st overall?"
There was no reply.