My eyes finished focusing, and I noticed the mirror the System had mentioned.
I took a glance.
Hopefully, I wasn’t going crazy.
Things had bee—whoa.
I didn’t look like this before.
But I did?
[Host’s body template has updated.
You have evolved in your existence.] What does that mean?
Why do I look like this?
I had medium-length brown hair, tied into a small, loose ponytail.
A sharp, youthful face.
Steel-grey eyes.
Not fat.
But not athletic.
Simply healthy.
I should work out.
[This is the way you perceive yourself in the depths of your awareness.
The System has simply anchored your physical existence.] I don’t like the sound of that, but let’s shelve it.
So, is this some kinda Sacred Gear, like from those new memories?
Care to dump the exposition, System?
[Negative.
The Transcending System is not native to this world.] [Closest local classification: Longinus-class Sacred Gear.] [Accuracy: 12.4%.] [Conclusion: Insufficient comparison.] Not native to this world, huh?
Well, I guess that makes sense.
Which G is the biggest G, then?
That’s kind of scary.
Eh.
Infinite realities.
A true God would exist outside of such a system.
Not my problem.
They’re essentially just powerful people.
Some gods even have famous stories about them throwing tantrums like children.
[Searching database…] [Insufficient existence.
Cannot define “god.”] …
Anyway, what’s the catch?
There is no way I’d be blessed for no reason whatsoever with such a power.
There has to be some kind of trick to it, right?
Well, fuck it.
Reality doesn’t make sense anymore.
Better to live like a firework.
I got up and began to shower and change.
I felt much more rested than usual.
I think?
These feelings were familiar yet strange.
I knew what they conceptually meant, but now I was actually feeling them.
The water was cold.
Wow that’s cold.
Fuck.
Okay now it’s too hot.
Why didn’t this ever happen before?!
I let out a sigh and began to wash myself.
So, System, tell me what it means to “cultivate my existence.” What are your limits, and what is the price I have to pay to use you?
[Existence cultivation is the process by which an unstable fictional entity develops independent reality.] That was a lot of words to say absolutely nothing.
Explain it like I’m stupid.
[Host is not stupid.
Host is underdeveloped.] I paused with my hand on the bathroom door.
“…Wow.
Fuck you too.” [Clarification: Host’s current existence is shallow.
Memories, relationships, physical traits, history, and fate were generated at minimum viable depth.] Minimum viable depth.
That one hurt.
[Host was not born.
Host was assigned.] I rolled my eyes in annoyance, yeah.
[The Transcending System exists to assist Host in increasing three primary attributes.] [Existence Density: The weight of Host’s reality.] [Soul Integrity: The stability of Host’s identity.] [Narrative Weight: The degree to which worlds are forced to acknowledge Host.] I stared at the mirror again.
“And the price?” [Action.] “…Action?” [Host must choose.
Host must struggle.
Host must be witnessed.
Host must alter outcomes.
Host must survive consequences.] Of course.
Of fucking course.
“So I don’t get to sit in my apartment and meditate until I become real?” [Negative.] “Damn.” [Passive existence is insufficient.
Background characters remain background characters because the world has no reason to define them.] I looked at my reflection.
Medium-length brown hair.
Steel-grey eyes.
A face I could finally remember.
“And if I fail?” [Host may be forgotten.] My throat tightened.
[Host may forget.] My heart skipped a beat.
Forget?
You mean..
[Yes.] …
Then I laughed, because apparently that was what my brain did when it ran out of safer options.
“Great.
No pressure.” “So, System.
How do you define my existence?” — [Status] Name: Raoul Classification: Former NPC Existence Density: 0.01% Soul Integrity: 3.1% Narrative Weight: Negligible Current World: Draconic Deus Current Threat: Canon Proximity Primary Objective: Avoid Erasure — Attributes: Str: 10 Int: 8 Wis: 7 Dex: 6 Luk: 99 — Okay.
I feel like being that lucky will be awesome and shitty at the same time.
[Title Acquired: Karma Magnet] [Requirement: Have a thread of karma between yourself and one of the real existences within the world.] [BOND: ????] [Effect: Host is more likely to encounter beings, events, and opportunities carrying significant narrative consequence.] [Warning: Luck does not distinguish between fortune and catastrophe.] Wonderful.
— After getting dressed, I shuffled into the kitchen and made the saddest cup of instant coffee known to man.
Okay, so I had some sort of karmic bond with someone related to canon.
I was just calling it as it was.
This was an anime world with an anime plot.
The people were real, though.
The world was real.
What was the difference before?
[Warning: Cognitive recursion detected.
Redirect attention.
Existence not yet stable.] I froze mid-step.
Really?
Right in front of my shitty coffee?
But whoops, that could be bad.
No more existential bullshit for now, no siree.
Ahh.
Tastes like shit.
What is this NPC-brand coffee I have?
It’s just a tin labeled COFFEE.
NPCs have no rights.
I shook my head and took another sip of the shittiest coffee on Earth.
“So, who is my karmic thread with?” I thought about it.
It might have been Issei.
I had seen him and his perverted friends trying to peek into the girls’ locker room once, and for some reason, I had uncharacteristically thrown a pencil at them.
One of the perverted idiots yelped and got caught by the girls.
Then the three of them promptly got their asses whooped.
Kind of weird that no one really does or says anything about those three.
Well.
Maybe punishing those idiots would give me some Narrative Weight?
“Issei has a dragon in his soul, though, so I probably shouldn’t mess with him too hard.” I yawned and began to pack my bag for my first real day of school.
[Your existence has grown more stable.] —